TRENTON — The state Senate is scheduled to take up 10 gun control measures today, including Senate President Stephen Sweeney's centerpiece bill that would overhaul how permits are issued for buying a firearm.

The votes are the latest step in the Legislature’s response to the shooting deaths of 20 first graders in Newtown, Conn., in December. The Assembly in March passed 22 measures, while the Senate passed 10 other bills two weeks ago.

Sweeney’s (D-Gloucester) legislation (S2723 ) would embed firearm purchase permit information on driver’s licenses instead of issuing separate paper permits, and would create a system for instant background checks. It would also require gun buyers to demonstrate that they have completed a safety training course and stiffen penalties for letting guns slip into the hands of minors.

The package of bills up for consideration today — some of which will go straight to the governor — includes legislation to ban .50 caliber rifles (A3659), bar the state pension fund from investing in companies that make or sell assault rifles for civilian use (A3668), increase penalties for convicted criminals caught with guns (S2804), tighten bail requirements for gun offenses (S1133), increase the statute of limitations for theft of firearms (S2801) and ban those on the federal terrorism watch list from buying guns (A3687).

“If the Senate votes the way we believe it will, then New Jersey’s moving significantly towards greater safety from gun violence,” said Bryan Miller, executive director of the anti-gun violence group Heeding God’s Call.

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Many of the bills are opposed by gun rights groups, who are also upset that a measure to ease up on firearms transport laws was left off the agenda. A bill was approved by the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee earlier this month that would allow gun owners transporting firearms to and from a firing range to make stops to pick up or drop off passengers, buy gas, food, medicine, use the bathroom, or in the case of an emergency. But it is not up for a vote tomorrow.

“Glaringly absent from the agenda are simple, easy fixes to longstanding issues that have plagued law-abiding gun owners,” Scott Bach, president of the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, wrote in an email Tuesday to his members.

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State Sen. Steve Oroho (R-Sussex) also took issue with Democrats for adding assault rifle retailers to the categories of companies the state pension fund would not be able to invest in. Oroho said Democrats had removed that provision from the bill, then reinstated it.

“Perhaps there are political motives for this flip-flop, but either way taxpayers, public employees and pensioners would lose with this bill,” Oroho said in a statement Wednesday.

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