The governor scheduled a news conference at his office in Trenton on Friday morning to discuss the matter.
New Jersey already has the second-strongest gun laws in the U.S., after California, according to rankings by the Gifford Law Center. That includes laws banning automatic weapons and limiting magazines to 10 rounds.
Murphy and the Legislature enacted two bill packages during his first term to further tighten the state’s gun laws. In April 2021, the governor introduced this third package.
But most of the measures languished in the Legislature — most notably in the Senate — especially after a tense November election in which Republicans gained seven seats, apparently dampening Democrats’ appetite to pass potentially controversial legislation.
The national debate over gun reform, however, got new life in the wake of the recent mass shootings.
“Thoughts and prayers are worthless,” Murphy said last month. “Action is the only thing of value.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate has begun acting on new bipartisan federal gun measures in recent weeks.
The debate reached Trenton this week as legislative committees heard testimony on New Jersey’s bills. State Sen. Ed Durr, R-Gloucester, a proponent of rolling back New Jersey’s firearm laws, called for legislators Thursday to “leave the guns alone.”
“The Second Amendment allows for people’s rights,” Durr said. “You’ve already restricted law-abiding citizens’ rights, and I’m asking you to stop.”
Scutari noted that he himself is a gun owner.
“I believe in that right,” the Senate president told Durr. “But it’s not without restriction.”
Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, said in a statement Wednesday that New Jersey “continues to lead the nation on fair and robust common-sense gun safety thanks to the governor and legislature’s partnership that has made public safety a priority.”
“People in every New Jersey community deserve nothing less than to feel safe,” Coughlin said.
Darin Goens, the state director of the National Rifle Association, said New Jersey is “scraping the bottom of the barrel” with these measures.
“This isn’t making anybody safer, and nobody should be under the illusion that it does,” Goens said.
Cryan said Thursday he was “almost speechless” that there isn’t unanimous support for some of these bills, including one that would require firearm training to obtain a gun purchaser’s ID card.
“Just to know how to handle a weapon lawfully and safely?” said the senator, a former Union County sheriff. “This is a weapon. It takes people’s lives. ... We’re not asking for the world here. We’re asking you to know how to handle a weapon. Is that so hard?”
State Sen. Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth, suggested that proposal in particular could face a court challenge over whether it’s constitutional.
The eight bills most likely to land on Murphy’s desk would:
- Require training for people to receive a gun purchaser ID in the state and to renew that card every four years. (A4370)
- Ban the future sales certain .50 caliber rifles in the state. It would not apply to antique firearms, and current owners of such weapons would need to register them and pay a $50 fee. (A4366)
- Require gun owners who move to New Jersey to obtain a firearm purchaser ID card and register their guns within 60 days. (A1179)
- Require ammunition manufacturers and dealers to keep a detailed electronic record of sales and report them to the State Police. (A1302)
- Amend the state’s public nuisance laws to prohibit the gun industry from endangering the safety or health of the public through its sale, manufacturing, importing, or marketing of guns. (A1765)
- Require retailers in the state to use micro-stamping technology to put serial numbers on guns once the state attorney general determines they are commercially available.(A4368)
- Increase penalties in the state related to manufacturing of “ghost guns.” (A4367)
- Limit the possession of body armor in the state and require it be registered in certain circumstances. (A4369)