Murphy lays out gun control agenda for New Jersey

Ammunition limits, the adoption of smart gun technology and stricter concealed carry rules were just some of the proposals that Gov. Phil Murphy endorsed Tuesday during a round-table discussion in Cherry Hill led by Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald, a longtime proponent of stricter gun laws.

New Jersey already has among the toughest gun laws in the country, but Murphy, a Democrat, said Tuesday the state should do more. And as with environmental, health and other initiatives, Murphy has said he wants to start by reexamining the gun bills that Republican former Gov. Chris Christie vetoed during his two terms in office.

Christie moved to the right on gun issues and pushed to loosen some of New Jersey's gun laws as he ramped up for an ill-fated run for president.

“I am incredibly confident we're going to move the needle meaningfully working together on this," Murphy told a panel that included several local officials and representatives of gun safety organizations.

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Later in the day, the governor's office issued a news release signaling support for a package of five gun bills, which would have to be approved by a Democratic-controlled Legislature before Murphy could sign them into law.

Murphy also said during the round-table that he supports a statewide study of gun violence “as a public health matter” and wants legislation to encourage the sale of so-called "smart guns," which use technology to restrict who can fire them, but his office did not reference legislation related to those topics.

Gun rights advocates were immediately skeptical of Murphy's agenda.

“No one will be made safer by these misguided proposals, because only the law-abiding will follow them,” Scott Bach, executive director of the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs, an affiliate of the National Rifle Association, said in a statement. “Violent criminals laugh at hardware bans — the only thing they understand is severe punishment. The administration needs to stop targeting hardware and start targeting violent criminal behavior instead.”

Here are the five measures singled out by the governor's office. Greenwald is a primary sponsor of all of them.

Ammunition limits

Gun control advocates in New Jersey pushed for a 10-round limit on the capacity of gun magazines — down from the current 15 — in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting, arguing that the restriction would lead to fewer victims in the event of a mass shooting and offer a window to escape or take down a shooter as a gun is being reloaded.

But Christie conditionally vetoed such a restriction in 2014, saying it "defies common sense" to think that limiting the number of bullets in a weapon would reduce violence. Instead, he recommended changes to the state’s mental health laws to make it easier to involuntarily commit people with violent tendencies and make it more difficult for those who have been committed to mental health treatment to obtain a firearms permit.

Murphy says he supports a new version of the bill Christie vetoed, A-2761.

.50-caliber weapons

Another measure Christie vetoed — and which Murphy now apparently supports — would have banned the sale of .50-caliber assault weapons. Christie originally backed a version of the ban but later withdrew his support as he prepared for his presidential bid.

The new legislation, A-2760, includes a carve-out for guns commonly used for “sporting purposes.”

Concealed carry permits

Murphy and his attorney general, Gurbir Grewal, have already announced their intention to reverse a Christie-era regulatory change that made it easier for people to carry concealed handguns in New Jersey.

A new bill discussed Tuesday, A-2758, would double down on that reversal, writing into law what thus far has been a regulatory matter: defining what applicants for a handgun permit need to show in order to demonstrate a “justifiable need” for it, as required under existing law.

In the meantime, the state will have to defend its restrictions on handgun carry permits in federal court. Those restrictions have been challenged in a case that gun rights advocates hope reaches the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Armor-piercing bullets

Another bill Murphy and Greenwald expressed support for Tuesday, A-2759, would add bullets capable of penetrating body armor to a lengthy list of prohibited weapons and devices in New Jersey.

The most recent addition to the list, under Christie, was a device known as a bump stock, which attaches to the stock of a semiautomatic rifle to enable it to fire faster. Several of the devices were used by the shooter in the Oct. 1 Las Vegas massacre that left at least 58 dead and hundreds more injured.

The newest proposal would make it a fourth-degree crime to possess the armor-piercing ammunition, which proponents say poses a danger to law enforcement officers.

Background checks

Another proposal, A-2757, would require all firearm sales to be conducted through a licensed retail dealer, who would then have to conduct a background check on the intended recipient.

Greenwald said the measure is designed to require background checks for private gun sales, although the legislation has exceptions for transactions between family members, law enforcement offices and collectors.

Email: pugliese@northjersey.com