Chris Christie (R) gave New Jersey residents 90 days to surrender bump stocks – or else – in one of his final acts as Governor of the state.
No crimes committed with bump stocks in New Jersey were cited. Rather, Christie signed the Democrat-sponsored ban in light of the October 1, 2017, Las Vegas attack.
According to NJ.com, the use of bump stocks was already banned in New Jersey, so the law Christie signed will simply broaden that ban to outlaw possession of bump stocks as well. Moreover, the new ban also covers trigger cranks, which were not even used in the Las Vegas attack. (This goes to the point that Gun Owners of America makes regarding ATF efforts to ban bump stocks nationally. Namely, that a ban on bump stocks will not stop with bump stocks. Rather, it will become an all-encompassing ban that can be expanded to included other firearm accessories when, and how, the banning authority sees fit.)
New Jersey residents have 90 days to hand over their bump stocks to authorities or else face third-degree charges which carry “a sentence of three-to-five years in prison, a fine of up to $15,000, or both.”
Christie tried to secure the nomination for the Republican presidential candidate in 2016 but his campaign was undercut by his strong support for gun control. This included his support for an “assault weapons” ban in the 1990s and his support for numerous other gun controls in 2013. On January 3, 2016, Breitbart News reported that Fox News’ Chris Wallace looked Christie in the eye and said, “The record seems to indicate, sir, that you have flipped on gun control. Critics note that in 2013, when you were running for re-election, that you signed 10 bills tightening gun restrictions, including banning handgun purchases by people on the terror watch list. And the NRA that year, when you running for re-election, only gave you a C.”
Christie offered a defense for his support of gun control but it did not reverberate with Republican voters nationally.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange