Arbitrary Capricious Magazine Bill Vetoed In New Jersey

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Surprising Victory for Gun Owners in New Jersey

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Unlike Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, Governor Chris Christie vetoed a bill that would have banned all magazines with more than 10 rounds of capacity in the state of New Jersey.

The bill, which had been sitting on his desk for some time, was vetoed because, as Christie rightly observed, limiting magazine size would not reduce gun violence.

Christie was reported as saying:

This is the very embodiment of reform in name only. It simply defies common sense to believe that imposing a new and entirely arbitrary number of bullets that can be lawfully loaded into a firearm will somehow eradicate, or even reduce, future instances of mass violence. Nor is it sufficient to claim that a ten-round capacity might spare an eleventh victim.

The bill (A2006/S993) would have limited gun magazines to 10 rounds or less. It would have effectively banned all magazines that held more than 10 rounds, with no grandfather clause to protect magazines that had been purchased before the ban was put in place.

Surprisingly, Christie vetoed the bill even though just an hour earlier gun control advocates — including some parents of children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School — had dropped off a petition with nearly 55,000 signatures asking him to sign the measure.

Ten thousand of those signatures came from his home state of New Jersey.

As NJ.com observed:

Christie conditionally vetoed the legislation (A2006), but he did more than propose changes. He completely rewrote it, eliminating the ammunition capacity reduction and suggesting in its place several changes to the state’s mental health system that he first proposed more than a year ago.

“I will not support such a trivial approach to the sanctity of human life, because this is not governing. Governing is confronting problems,” Christie said in his veto message.

Gun control advocates in New Jersey are upset with the Governor. “We want him to know that we are watching, we are aware and we are engaged,” they said.