New Jersey already has a reputation for having some of the tightest gun laws in the U.S. But gun control advocates may soon be able to boast the Garden State is the most stringent of any state.

Gov. Phil Murphy signed a half-dozen new measures into law Wednesday -- which will reduce magazine capacity, ban armor-piercing bullets, make it tougher to obtain a permit to carry a handgun, expand background checks on private gun sales, and keep firearms out of the hands of people deemed a threat to themselves and others in New Jersey.

"We are going to be a leader in the fight for common-sense gun safety," the Democratic governor declared at the bill-signing ceremony at the Hughes Justice Complex in Trenton. "New Jersey will lead."

Still, Murphy press Congress to pass national legislation on gun reform.

"Our work is far from done," Murphy added. "Let's continue to work on this together. Vote in November for candidates who continue to support common-sense gun reform."

The governor was joined by a student, Alfonso Calderon, 16, who survived the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. In February, a gunman killed 17 students and teachers at the school.

The shooting spurred a national debate on gun control and school safety.

"He's one of the core leaders from the students of that school who said, 'never again,'" Murphy said of Calderon, who was welcomed with a standing ovation.

Calderon said there's "just one thing that I want everybody to take home today."

"Just one word. That word is 'change,'" Calderon said. "The majority of America's youth know that we need this change to survive in America's schools."

"Our current government on the local level, on the federal, is not cutting it," he added. "We need change."

Murphy campaigned on tighter gun control as the national debate on firearms has grabbed headlines amid the about two-dozen school shootings in 2018.

The governor acknowledged the state's tough firearm rules once he took office. But he said there's reason to further tighten control and has argued New Jersey could be seen as a model for the rest of the nation.

Murphy took a number of executive actions soon after he was sworn into office in January to constrict access to firearms or curb gun violence.

One of his first as governor was to reverse an effort by former Gov. Chris Christie to loosen "justifiable need" requirements to obtain a concealed carry handgun permit.

By April, Murphy had issued an executive order creating a monthly report of gun crime data, dubbed NJGUNStat, and joined governors in neighboring states to create a consortium to study gun violence.

The latest came Wednesday in the form of six bills that he signed into law:

* A1217, will create restraining orders in the state allowing family members and others to ask a judge to have a person's guns seized and ban them from buying weapons for up to a year.

* A1181, will mandate law enforcement in the state to seize a person's guns if a mental health professional determines they pose a threat to themselves.

* A2758, will strictly define that state residents need to show a "justifiable need" to obtain a permit to carry a handgun -- meaning they must show they face a specific threat to their own safety.

* A2757, will require all private gun sales in the state to go through a licensed dealer who can perform an additional background check at the point of sale.

* A2759, will create an outright ban in the state on possessing armor-piercing bullets.

* A2761, will ban magazines in the state that hold more than 10 rounds, with some exceptions.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report.

Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook.