NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 24: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie stands during a press conference with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (not pictured) to announce the initial findings from their joint review of security protocols, in response to growing, global terrorism, for New Jersey and New York during a press conference on September 24, 2014 at 7 World Trade Center in New York, NY. Last week, Christie and Cuomo requested a bi-state review of current safety and security protocols in response to the increased global terrorism threat and today, ten days later, they announced their initial findings as well as signed a memorandum of understanding to increase security for New Jersey and New York. (Photo by Bryan Thomas/Getty Images)

Text of Governor Christie, allow concealed carry of firearms for self defense! petition at change.org, which has garnered 11,399 signatories at the time of writing:

The terrorists in Paris yesterday executed innocent civilians, and not one person fired back. They have no right to keep and bear arms in France, like our 2nd Amendment here in the USA. No law abiding citizen was able to step up to stop the violence. The same attack could happen here in New Jersey . . .

Despite the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution stating ” the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,” law abiding citizens are barred from carrying a firearm outside their homes in New Jersey by an unconstitutional requirement of “justifiable need.”

Such a vague statement allows State of New Jersey officials to decide, based on their feelings, whether or not a law abiding citizen meets the “justifiable need” to carry a firearm. Self defense is not considered a justifiable need. Currently, well over 40 states actively issue concealed carry permits to their constituents. Those states show a documented decrease in violent crime versus states that violate residents rights (fbi.gov).

Therefore, in light of the above, I call on Gov. Christie to issue an executive order defining the meaning of justifiable need adding self defense as a justifiable need to carry a firearm. The simple action by the Governor of defining what constitutes “justifiable need” will allow the citizens of New Jersey the ability to defend themselves and their families, as well as those around them, from any type of deadly attack. [h/t JE]

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55 COMMENTS

  1. Honestly, I don’t think this would win him the pro-gun vote. I certainly still wouldn’t trust him on gun-rights. It would just appear to me as cynical pandering in hopes of gaining advantage for his current campaign.

  4. Sure, some desperate, last-minute hail-Mary pandering ought to dispel an entire career of anti-gun statements and actions…

    Christie can’t backtrack on guns now with even a tiny shred of credibility. His whole political career started over the issue of him being in support of NJ’s “assault weapons” ban.

  5. Yeah, right.

    Chris Crispy suddenly sees the light and will support regular citizens right to keep and bear arms?

    Only until he was sworn into office. Then he would come to his “senses” and realize he really didn’t mean it.

    Then he would only accept “common sense” gun control, which would consist of all the current New,Jersey gun laws, but on a national level.

  6. For starters, can we PLEASE stop giving advice to RINOs on how to win the Republican primaries? PLEASE!

    Secondly, The author of the piece starts out quoting the “…shall not be infringed.” portion of the Second Amendment and concludes with a plan to only reduce government infringement by changing the wording of the New Jersey law: “I call on Gov. Christie to issue an executive order defining the meaning of justifiable need adding self defense as a justifiable need to carry a firearm.” Which in no way changes the concept of infringed, only the quantity.

    • He can’t actually change the laws without the state legislature. They’re over 60% liberal and hate guns. But “justifiable need” isn’t actually a law. It’s part of the administrative code that is written by the state attorney general, he’s under Christy direct command. From his first day in office he has had the power to amend the administrative code and re define “justifiable need” to include self defense. Hey as a NJ resident I’ll take it! Although I would love to see constitutional carry nation wide, with National receprocity ideally. If Christy wants to throw us a bone on this one I would surely take advantage of it. Although I highly doubt he will, since we all know he really hates gun’s, but now pretends to so America will vote for him.

  7. NJ has always seemed to me ( imho) a state that reacts to events instead of proacting.
    When are we going to see statesmanship?
    Where are the thinkers.
    People have been killing each other for quite sometime now, so its no surprise to the pro 2 A folks.
    Although maybe hearts and minds just got a small bit of change needed to see the value in self preservation
    Congrats to you christie for gaining some understanding.now go back home and change things for the better.Forget the White House….baby steps back to Jersy
    Rubio is the solid choice.

    • Solid for what? Establishment, more of the same? The LAST thing I want out of a Republican is one who can’t even manage his own fiscal house. If you look at irresponsible Republican spending, they tend to involve us in bad places where no amount of money garners anything more than a rearranged rock pile or a corrupt government on a delta. Further, he’s going to INCREASE government, increase the deep state, etc. etc.

      Go for someone who actually promises to make government smaller, more efficient, and doesn’t want to strip you of your rights. I’m a big fan of Rand, but even Trump would be a rebuke to the establishment, donor class, and at least initially to the bureaucrats. Cruz is probably most electable and closest to the best positions. Not as good as Rand, but seems smarter, unfortunately.

  9. I saw Chris Christie at a stumping event in my town (guess the state…) a couple of weeks ago.

    While he made a lot of good points about the economy and the reality as he saw it of dealing with illegals, he never mentioned or was asked about the 2A. He also is strongly against marijuana legalization.

    He seemed like a nice guy as a person, but the problem is we need our best and ideologically strongest as nominee. I don’t think he fits that bill. I’m still standing with Rand.

    • South Jersey residents suffer because North Jersey and Central keep Trenton filled with progressive Ds.

      • I’m as North Jersey as they come. I can drive to the NY state border in under 5 minutes. Trust me, it’s not us Northerners ruining it for everybody, either. Everything south of Rt. 80 and east of Rt. 287 on the other hand…

      • Sweeney, Greenwald, Norcross, Moriarty,Madden and Mosquera are all from South Jersey and are among the worst offenders.

  11. Christie talks a good game leading up to elections, then fails to follow through after, by
    blaming the Democrats in the NJ legislature.

    If he could pull off an “Executive Action” on this, I’d consider him for a POTUS vote.
    Until then, he’s pretty much in the Useless Blowhard category- like Schwarznegger in CA.

    Not holding my breath, and if polls are any judge, not a lot of others are considering him credible, either.
    Go back and do your job, Crissy. Prove you are more than just another RINO, and give it a shot in 4 years.

  12. I like Rand,but like his dad who speaks truth and non goverment intrusion, the dumbed down Democrat Free Shit Army voters want,and want and want. And the money changers won’t allow true monetary policy.

  13. I’m pretty sure that unless the relevant statute grants the authority to define “justifiable need” to the Governor’s office, Christie couldn’t legally issue such an order if he wanted to. I expect the local officials who make that determination are either elected in their own right or appointed by an official who is elected in his own right. And Governor Christie is not their “boss”. Whatever one thinks of Christie’s position on gun rights, my educated guess is that this petition is BS, “calling on” Christie to do something he has no authority to do.

    • Making definition changes to a law that remains on its face unconstitutional does not make it Constitutional. I can find no part of the Second Amendment that allows any authority to define WHERE the people may keep and/or bear arms.

    • The statute grants authority to the attorney general to amend the administrative code. The Guv can tell the Attorney General to accept self defense as justifiable need. The legislature could then amend the law to prohibit it.

      He should still do it since his #1 excuse for all of NJ’s problems is the legislature. Force them to do it. Don’t just sit on your fat ass and assume that’s what they would do.

      • Is the AG an elected official in his own right, or is he appointed by the Gov. ? If the former, Christie is not the AG’s “boss” and may not have the authority to directly order him to do anything.

  14. He won’t do it. But even if he does (assuming he could), it will be promptly undone by the next governor, which more than likely will be a Democrat. Besides, I think Democrats gained some seats in the NJ Assembly recently if I’m not mistaken, so any pro-gun legislation would get vetoed anyway. As much as I dislike Christie, there are many worse offenders the the People’s Republic.

  15. “How NJ Governor Chris Christie Could Win the Pro-Gun Vote”

    Let the box doughnuts run instead? Seriously. I would never under any circumstance vote for this opportunistic, vindictive, RINO. He has absolutely no recoverable credibility with me whatsoever.

  16. Whats the deal with executive action? Are we really ok with the tyrants really overstepping – sheesh do your damn job. Follow and honor the oath and Constitution or GTFO!
    Knee jerk (re)action seldom yields sucess no?

    • This–I think too many people are reading too much into Obama’s proposed/threatened/suggested “executive orders”. The ones he has actually signed don’t really amount to a hill of beans; I mean, “directing” the ATF chief to do what is part of his normal duties anyway?

  17. Christie could get the pro-gun vote? BWAAAAHHHH!!

    I could have been a pope in a past life too.

    Change.org is nothing but an email harvesting website.

  19. let’s not be fooled by this “politician.” He says what the voters want to hear, but his actions are another thing. For the love of GOD, a bb gun is considered a firearm in NJ, among the other many anti-2A laws.

    • To be fair, the BB gun thing was before he was in office; that was Corzine. Also to be fair, NJ attempted the same insane gun control package as the NY S.A.F.E. Act after Newtown, and Christie said no. He told them to come up with a feasibility study (which basically said that none of NJ’s existing laws would have prevented Newtown, so no sense in tightening them further), and then vetoed the (very) Democrat-heavy state assembly’s gun control package. He also told them that if they attempted to put through pieces of that package individually, he would veto those, as well… which he did… several times. Given the make up of the state assembly, he has no chance of getting any gun laws rolled back. He probably doesn’t want to either, but that’s another issue.

  20. Signed it. I still will never vote for that traitor.

    I would rather Hillary be in office than him. At least that way we will keep Congress via the enormous backlash that’s sure to come.

  21. Ah yes, Chris (Crisco) Christie. As a former resident of the Garden State (Born and raised), I can tell you that the gun laws there are beyond insane. I grew up in a non gun owning family, but because we had a summer home in Vermont, I was exposed to guns early and often. As a teenager in the early 70’s my then girlfriends mom bought me( my money) a couple of long guns and a trusty Iver Johnson .22 revolver, all of which traveled back to NJ in my trunk, likely making me a felon. I had lots of friends who had firearms, most of which were purchased out of state to avoid all the hassles. There were lots of “reserve” cops who carried guns thanks to their being connected to their political buddies. My last visit there a few years ago, I brought a single shot .22 bolt to give to my nephews. Apparently, that, too was a felony. During my stay, there were daily stories in the news of shootings in Camden, Newark, Patterson, Trenton, and Bridgeton. I’m sure those were all legally purchased (lol) I left in 1975, and even when I inherited property there, have never, ever ever considered moving back. I refuse to be unarmed and helpless to defend myself and my family.

  22. I would abstain if the joisey boy was the Repub nominee. Too little,too late-too fake. Ted Cruz for president…

  25. “They have no right to keep and bear arms in France, like our 2nd Amendment here in the USA.”
    Every free, breathing person has the right to “keep and bear” arms but most places infringed on that right. They have to understand this. In the US, the 2A is to prevent US gov from infringing. The 2A doesn’t “allow”, it protects. Words matter.

  28. Many of us in N.J. have tried to share that petition online with friends and family using Farcebook BUT as usual within hours of it’s creation N.J. State Senator Loretta Whine-BOIG (Commiecrat-BOI-Gen County) of “We wanted a bill that would Confiscate! Confiscate! Confiscate!” infamy called her mensch, Mark Zoiker-BOIG, he ordered his minions to immediately “block” the ability of anyone to share the link.

  29. NJ could have gotten conceal carry passed with a “Republican” gov but she denied it.

    After Whitman was elected, a middle ground on gun policy was not difficult for her to stake out. She noted that while she “grew up with guns,” she “believed in gun control.” She announced a plan for gun-free schools — not controversial at the time, but out of step with the current vanguard of gun activism — and even opposed a proposal from her own party to introduce carry permits to the state. Soon after leaving office in 2001, she told the Washington Post that New Jersey is “not a state that is thrilled with the idea of a carry bill.” (Whitman, by the way, takes issue with Christie laying the blame for tight gun laws on his partisan rivals. The Garden State’s strict gun laws are “what you get with the electorate of New Jersey,” the former governor says today. “But when you’re running for president … “)

    http://www.thetrace.org/2015/06/chris-christie-gun-rights-new-jersey-politics/

  30. Whether this move would help Governor Christie or not is hard to tell. He’s never been overtly pro-gun, and he’ll have a hard time getting enthusiastic support from the pro-gun community. On the other hand, Hillary is a known enemy of the Second Amendment. If she wins the Democrat nomination, most gun owners will vote for any Republican who makes an effort to court their vote. In the GOP primary, Chris Christie should be seen as better on the Second Amendment than candidates like Ben Carson and Donald Trump who have a much worse history of anti-gun statements. However, the voters in this cycle seem intent on electing an “outsider,” and they seem to be willing to forgive all kinds of crazy statements by people like Donald Trump. At this point, Chris Christie is still a long shot to win the nomination, and nothing he could do on guns would help him that much.

    The more important problem with this whole idea is that New Jersey law is controlled by the New Jersey legislature, and the legislature is strongly Democrat and strongly anti-gun. The governor is unlikely to get a law through the legislature to ease gun restrictions.

  33. say what you want about the Gov, but the alternatives after he’s term-limited out are a horror story for NJ gun owners. For god’s sake sign the damn petition!!!!

  34. It is too late for this republican. He does not support the civil right of self defense with private firearms inside your home or outside your home.

  35. I don’t know about helping Christie, but I signed this one ( You’re one of 14,571 people to sign this petition. )and Maryland one too.

  36. He can’t.

    He has not earned our trust. all indications is he is pushing hard pro-gun solely to earn votes. He’s never been a friend to us before.

  38. Say what you want about Christie if we didn’t have him we would be decimated. Can you imagine what would happen if we had a far left leaning democrat? Be careful what you wish for folks because when Christie leaves office we’re in big trouble. Three Democratic seats were added in the Assembly. Can you see the writing on the wall yet? And as far as these attacks that are being perpetrated in our homeland, they are happening in gun free zones. And what is New Jersey? Exactly. Please be careful out there. They don’t call them soft targets for nothing.

  39. “Three Democratic seats were added in the Assembly. ”
    Yup, and it’s all because of the sit-on-their-ass JO’s on our side.

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