SAYREVILLE, NJ - JULY 08: Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie attends the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund Press Conference at Sayreville Borough Hall on July 8, 2013 in Sayreville, New Jersey. (Photo by Bobby Bank/WireImage)
Huffington Post
A gun-rights group in the bellwether presidential primary state of New Hampshire has warned New Jersey Governor Chris Christie that signing gun control bills passed by his state's Legislature could have consequences if he runs for president in 2016.
The Pro-Gun New Hampshire coalition urged its members this week to call and email Christie to ask him to veto the proposed laws, posing a political dilemma for Christie as he seeks re-election in November in the Democratic-leaning state while also eyeing the national stage.
Christie has a September deadline to sign a number of firearm-related bills seen by their supporters as necessary for tackling gun violence, and the gun rights group is targeting four of those measures.
One bill would ban .50 caliber rifles, another would require police to report lost and stolen firearms to a federal database, a third would create a system for instant background checks during gun purchases and a fourth bill would ban gun sales to anyone on a watch list of militants.
"This is an acid test," said Sam Cohen, executive vice president of Pro-Gun New Hampshire, which describes itself as the state's largest gun rights group.
"If he decides to support these horrible bills, then we in New Hampshire are going to do everything we can to tell our voters not to vote for him in the New Hampshire primary," Cohen said.
What do you think? Will he succumb to the pressure and threats. That certainly isn't his persona. He nurtures the public image of a tough guy who dances to his own tune. Besides, as our commenter Alabaman pointed out the other day, maybe it's about time for a national Republican candidate to come out for reasonable gun control laws.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Who knows what Christie will do, and frankly, who cares. He's already shown himself to be an enemy of freedom, not just on guns, but on privacy, standing firmly behind all of the new domestic spying.
ReplyDeleteAs for Alabaman, it's pretty sad when you give creedence to one of E.N.'s obvious sock puppets merely because you like one thing he says.
Why do you like Christie? He's fat and white. But seriously, he'll discover that being a Republican in New Jersey is the equivalent of being a corrupt Democrat in most other states if he tries a run for the presidency.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean it's about time we had a national Rebuplican candidate who likes gun control? What about Romney, McCain, Bush, Bush, and Regan?
ReplyDeleteYes, to an extremist like you, those guys all did represent gun control.
DeleteAnd how's Christy different than those guys?
DeleteAnd I'm an "extremist" now?
You oppose Mike's regal dictates which are the definition of reasonable, therefore, You're an extremist.
Delete"a third would create a system for instant background checks during gun purchases and a fourth bill would ban gun sales to anyone on a watch list of militants."
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind that Christie is only a Republican because he's being graded on a curve. So the state is going to make a database similar to NICS, only with a larger list to cover people it considers to be prohibited persons under state law.
Most disturbing is the state wanting to remove a citizen's rights based on a secret list. For example, in Minnesota, a person cannot get a carry permit if he is on the state gang database. However there is a procedure in place for an applicant to appeal a denial if the database is incorrect, or if he can show that they are no longer in the gangs.
The list of "Militants they speak of is the federal terrorist watch list. A person isn't notified that they are on the list, and there is no process for appealing being placed on the list.