New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has vetoed a bill that would have limited the size of ammunition magazines in his state.
The Star-Ledger reported that the Republican said the bill would do little to stem gun violence. Instead, he would rewrite the law to replace the ammunition provision with changes to the state’s mental health system.
“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,” Mr. Christie said, the Ledger reported. “Nor is it sufficient to claim that a 10-round capacity might spare an 11th victim.”
The bill passed along party lines in May and would have reduced the permitted size of magazines from 15 rounds to 10, the Ledger reports.
The newspaper reports Mr. Christie, a potential GOP candidate for president in 2016, vetoed the measure less than an hour after gun control advocates — including parents of two children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut — dropped off 55,000 signatures from people across the nation in support of the bill.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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