“I am a little bit disturbed by politicians who in the immediate aftermath of this type of tragedy, try to grandstand on it, and I’m not going to be one of those people. I feel awfully for those families. And this is just not the appropriate time to be grandstanding about gun laws. Can we at least get through the initial grief and tragedy for these families before we start making them political pawns?” – New Jersey Governor Chris Christie

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27 COMMENTS

  1. I know a lot of people will fall all over each other in their effort to interpret that last phrase as “So you admit that using them as pawns is your ultimate plan!” but I really have seen very little that I dislike about this guy.

    • Um. He was quite happy with NJ’s gun laws as a prosecutor. No freedom minded person is a prosecutor in this regime. Specifically, he was a strong advocate of the AWB. Please educate yourself. He’s hoping to further his career, that’s all.

    • Apparently you know nothing about his reign of terror over gun owners in New Jersey.

    • Maybe so. But you can always tell when a politician is lying. You’ll see his lips move.

    • I live in NJ and if he is pro-gun then I haven’t seen any evidence of it. Here in the garden state we have defacto no issue. It is just like Maryland who recently found their own may issue requireing a good an substantial reason to be unconstitutional. That is being appealed. NJ also doesn’t allow retractable but stocks, muzzle breaks, foregrips, or magazine cpacity larger than 15 rounds. I’m not sure how any of those laws deter crime. Especially since I can order all of those things online, with a disclaimer that I am responsible for following the laws of the state I am in. I’m fine with that. That means if I want to drive over to PA to shoot I can strap on all those things once I get there. But since criminals don’t obey the law, they are not stopped or detered.

      I don’t like laws whose intent are so easily jumped around. Capacity bans are in place to restrict firepower. I’m really okay with banning say full auto, that’s a concession I’ll make that civilians have no use/need for (regardless of how much I would love to experience the thrill of full auto). Capacity limits are however so easily overcome by either ignoring them or just being able to change a mag in 1 sec with a little practice.These laws do not deter crime in the slightests and they do not pass the sniff test of successfully accomplishing what they are set out to do.

      • Crime is used as the excuse for the laws, the reality is so that the state therefore the police can have tyranny over its citizens. The police want an advantage as if they do not already have it simply by shooting now and asking questions later. A non-adjustable butt stock does not stop crime, its to give the police an advantage. Mag caps are so the police can have more bullets….as so the logic goes.

        A lot of good any of that did this weekend or in any shooting.

        The BG will not care about the law and the police will only show up to clean up the mess.

        It is a fantasy that these laws do anything except restrict law abiding citizens — but to the sheepish and fearfull, it is a warm feeling placebo.

  3. I had to laugh last night while watching Jon Stewart while talking about this same issue, and he just had this blank look on his face like “if not NOW, when?” Nothing wrong with talking about gun laws, as long as it doesn’t lead to some knee-jerk legislation getting passed. What bothers me is that from all indications, Holmes purchased his weapons, ammo and gear using money from a grant and a $26,000 stipend for his neurological science studies…while I hope the purchasing and ownership of firearms doesn’t become any more restrictive, I’m more than capable of defending myself, my home and my family with nothing more than a lever-action Henry rifle and a six shot revolver if need be…

  5. It’s only during the “initial grief and tragedy” that the victims have any political value, while the emotional value is still high.

  6. NJ gun owner here.

    The ONLY thing that makes Christie the slightest ‘gun friendly’ (there is no such thing as pro gun in NJ…), is that no anti gun measures have gone anywhere since he has been Governor.

    • Ya, avoidance of the topic doesn’t make you pro-gun rights. You could maybe say that’s that case in somewhere like AZ, but in a place where gun laws are so strict inaction could only be interpreted as being in support of the current laws.

      • If Christie is pro-gun then that’s news to me. They all hate guns here, whether they are Reps or Dems. All the same nonsense.

      • new (better) rules for securing a carry permit? less gun restrictions? that makes too much sense, so it’ll never pass in this state, sorry.

  8. no, the fight goes on. and will continue. we can never relax because evil people are always waiting to exploit any chance. a bit dramatic, i know. but true.

  9. Chris Christie is your typical big government statist. Anything that comes out of his mouth is a lie

  10. On an interview with Sean Hannity —

    HANNITY: Are there any issues where you are, quote, moderate to left as a Republican?

    CHRISTIE: Listen, I favor some of the gun-control measures we have in New Jersey.

    HANNITY: Bad idea.

    CHRISTIE: Listen, we have a densely-populated state, and there’s a big hand gun problem in New Jersey. Now, I don’t support all the things that the governor supports by a long stretch. But I think on guns — certain gun control issues, looking at it from a law-enforcement perspective, seeing how many police officers were killed, we have an illegal gun problem in New Jersey.

    HANNITY: Should every — should every citizen in the state be allowed to get a licensed weapon if they want one?

    CHRISTIE: In New Jersey, that’s not going to happen, Sean.

    HANNITY: Why?

    CHRISTIE: Listen, the Democratic legislature we have, there’s no way those type of things — listen, at the end of the day, what I support are common sense laws that will allow people to protect themselves, but I also am very concerned about the safety of our police officers on the streets, very concerned. And I want to make sure that we don’t have an abundance of guns out there.

    (source: http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/hannity/2009/10/27/chris-christie-fighting-finish-line?page=4)

    He’s in no way pro-2A. He cares more about the safety of Police Officers – who open carry full-size firearms and wear body armor – than the right of “civilians” to protect themselves.

    • That knocks him down on my Tim-o-meter quite a bit. What good is he if he doesn’t trust law-abiding citizens? With all the other issues I support him on, he just isn’t trustworthy enough, IMO.

  11. “Can we at least get through the initial grief and tragedy for these families before we start making them political pawns? After all, there’s plenty of time to exploit this tragedy for our political benefit.”

    Fixed.

  12. Here are your only two options in NJ:

    (D): Let’s ban all guns!
    (R): Let’s not talk about guns…

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