New Jersey Senate Overrides Christie Veto of Bill to Give Cops a Say in Whether Someone Can Get Mental Health Records Expunged so They Can Legally Own Guns
New Jersey governor and, so it is rumored, presidential candidate Chris Christie tried to do something sensible for gun owner rights in Jersey, only to be stymied this week by his legislature.
The New Jersey Senate voted to override Governor Chris Christie's veto of a gun control bill on Thursday…
Christie…rejected the bill in August after it passed unanimously in both the state Senate and General Assembly….
The New Jersey bill goes further than previous state legislation by requiring notification of local law enforcement prior to expunging the mental health records of people who want to purchase firearms.
Federal law prohibits the purchase of guns by anyone who has been involuntarily committed to a mental health facility, but a judge can expunge that record if a person is deemed unlikely to endanger the public.
"I cannot endorse a continued path of patchwork proposals and fragmented statutes that add further confusion to an already cumbersome area of law," Christie wrote in his conditional veto….
Chris Christie also played a decent role in the horrible saga of Brian Aitken whose life was severely damaged by absurd application of Jersey's overly punitive gun laws. Christie commuted Aitken's seven-year prison sentence for having legally owned unloaded weapons in his trunk because he was moving from one home to another.
Jacob Sullum on the gun-control folly of obsessing over keeping anyone who interacts with mental health authorities from owning guns.