After backing several gun control measures in the state of New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie is now using conservative rhetoric about additional gun control, attempting to shift the debate more broadly to “violence control.”
On Fox News Sunday, Christie said, “When you look at what we’ve done in New Jersey, we want to control violence. Some of that may involve firearms, but a lot of it doesn’t.” He added, “In New Jersey, I’ve signed some of those measures. But I’ve also vetoed measures that I thought were overreaching and not consistent with Second Amendment rights.”
Christie talked about his efforts to curb violence springing from mental health issues, noting that incidents of mass violence sprang “almost exclusively with a deeply disturbed person at the helm.”