Gun Control After Texas School Massacre: What NJ Pols Say

NEW JERSEY — The Garden State has among the strictest gun laws in the nation by several metrics. But recent mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, have the state's Democratic leaders pushing for more policies in efforts to reduce gun violence in New Jersey.

Gov. Phil Murphy renewed a push for state lawmakers to pass a gun-safety legislative package he initially proposed in April 2021. The measures haven't passed New Jersey's State Senate or Assembly, which both have Democratic majorities.

But partisan battles within New Jersey heated up after Murphy called out several GOP legislators by name Wednesday — a day after the Uvalde shooting in which 19 students and two teachers were killed. Republican leadership responded that they have proposed several measures designed to curb gun violence and mass shootings, claiming Gov. Phil Murphy misrepresented their bills.

Related reading:

• Fight Over NJ Gun Laws Heats Up As Murphy Attacks GOP
• 16 NJ Gun Bills That Could Impact State After Texas Mass Shooting

Murphy has proposed several measures related to gun safety, including requiring training to purchase a firearm, mandating storage in lockboxes or gun safes, banning weapons of .50 caliber or greater and raising the minimum age for purchasing shotguns and rifles from 18 to 21.

But federal legislation plays a major part in gun violence. And Murphy has no faith in Congress passing federal legislation on gun control.

"Congress has failed to lead time and time and time again, so it’s up to us to do the job others are too weak to do," Murphy said.

President Joe Biden met a crowd chanting “do something” when he and first lady Jill Biden visited Uvalde, the scene of the 27th school shooting of 2022, and he responded, “We will.”

But his power is limited without the cooperation of Congress. President Biden told reporters Monday that it's up to Congress to pass legislation.

"I can't dictate this stuff," the president said.

That comes as an informal survey of the nation’s governors by The Associated Press showed wide divergence on whether gun control or hardened school security is the best approach.

The Uvalde school shooting amplified Democratic governors’ call for more gun control, while Republicans who answered emphasized additional school security, including arming teachers, the AP reported. The news organization reached out to governors in all 50 states but heard back from only about half of them — primarily Democrats.

Some Democrats also favor specially trained school resource officers and hardening school security, but none of them favored arming teachers and staff as a deterrent to school shootings.

The schism between Democrat and Republican governors on gun violence prevention mirrors the partisan split in Congress and many state capitols on how to best address a near-record-high number of gun-related deaths in the United States. Those statistics, for 2020 — the latest year for which data is available — also show that firearms were the leading cause of death among children for the first time.

Since 2019, the House of Representatives has twice passed legislation to expand criminal background checks for gun purchases, only to have the bills languish in the Senate amid heavy Republican opposition.

A bipartisan group of senators is meeting this week to come to an agreement on how legislation to curb gun violence might look, The Hill reported.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky tasked Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn with negotiating with Democrats on the response to mass shootings. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut is the lead negotiator for Democrats.

Biden said Monday he was optimistic Cornyn may be able to bring the two parties to some agreement, calling him a “rational” policymaker.

“I think Sen. McConnell is a rational Republican. I think Cornyn is as well. I think there’s a recognition in their party that they — we can’t continue like this,” Biden said, referring to mass shootings at schools and other public places.

The bipartisan group includes Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, and Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.

Both members of New Jersey's Senate delegation have renewed calls for gun reform. Sen. Cory Booker said that several laws will need to change to prevent mass shootings and gun violence. But in a Sunday appearance on Meet the Press, Booker called for the public to mobilize on the issues.

"Until the redemptive power for the love for all of our children is greater than the destructive power of the love of our guns and money and power ... nothing is going to change."

Last week, Sen. Bob Menendez called every mass shooting "the result of a policy failure."

"Guns — especially assault weapons equipped with high capacity magazines — don’t belong in our communities," Menendez said, "and in no circumstances should those who seek to do harm with such weapons have greater rights than the nation’s children to whom we have a precious obligation to protect."

There are signs that some Republicans are warming to the idea of a ban on assault weapons, among them Congressman Chris Jacobs of New York, who said he supports ban on assault weapons, the type of gun used in the Buffalo supermarketing shooting, where 10 people were gunned down on May 14.

Jacobs, who was endorsed by the National Rifle Association in 2020, said at a news conference Friday, “If an assault weapons ban bill came to the floor that would ban something like an AR-15, I would vote for it. So I want to be clear: I would vote for it.”

Jacobs also favors raising the minimum age to buy certain firearms to 21.

“Individuals cannot buy beer, they cannot get cigarettes until 21. I think it’s perfectly reasonable that the age limit at least for these highly lethal, high-capacity semi-automatic weapons should be 21,” he said.

New Jersey has the third-lowest gun-mortality rate in the nation, with five deaths per 100,000 people in 2020 — the last year of available data from the CDC. Gun-control supporters say the state's strict laws have helped keep gun violence low, compared to much of the nation.

The Giffords Law Center To Prevent Gun Violence touts several of New Jersey's measures, including universal background checks, gun-own licenses and bans on large-capacity magazines.

But Republican legislators have said New Jersey's laws take firearms out of the hands of law-abiding residents. Assembly Minority Leader John DiMaio agreed with Murphy's call for legislators to bring New Jersey's gun bills to a vote.

“What’s more American than having a hearing and an up-or-down vote?” DiMaio said. “But when he breaks his rule against speaking on legislation not on his desk, he should perhaps read them. My bill actually increases penalties for criminals possessing ammunition.”