Buono Says Christie is Soft on Gun Control

The likely Democratic candidate for governor accused incumbent Chris Christie on Monday of supporting "shallow" gun control legislation in order to avoid alienating conservatives elsewhere in the country.

“This governor calibrates every decision he makes with an eye towards 2016. He calibrates every decision he makes with an eye towards making sure it plays well with voters in the cornfields of Iowa, instead of standing up for what’s right for the people and neighborhoods of New Jersey,” state Sen. Barbara Buono  (D-Middlesex) said during a press conference held at Good Neighbor Baptist Church in Newark.

Buono is expected to win next month’s primary, but is an underdog in the November governor’s race against the popular Christie, who is also a possible candidate for president in 2016. Christie is often perceived to be walking a tightrope between burnishing his conservative credentials and maintaining his appeal among moderate Garden State Republicans.

Buono, who spoke as relatives of gun violence victims stood behind her, said Monday that a package of legislation scheduled for a state Senate vote Monday does not do enough to protect New Jerseyans from the “scourge” of gun violence, incuding in Newark, where hundreds of shootings occur every year.

“I feel very grateful today to Sen. Barbara Buono, who has been a consistent voice on this issue, who has never been swayed by lobbyists who do not have the public’s best interests at heart,” said Mayor Cory Booker, who has been actively campaigning for Buono. 

Christie has expressed support for stricter gun control laws in New Jersey, already considered to have some of the toughest firearms regulations in the nation. But Christie has remained silent on one proposed bill that would reduce  the legal maximum capacity of gun clips from 15 to 10 bullets. 

State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, a Gloucester County Democrat, has declined to put that bill up for the vote Monday. 

Buono said meeting with parents from Newtown convinced her of the need to reduce clip size, noting that some children were able to escape the Sandy Hook  massacre as gunman Adam Lanza briefly halted, possibly to reload his high-capacity rifle.

The fewer bullets Lanza could have fired without reloading, Buono said, the better the chances would have been for more children to survive.

“What really resonated with me was when they talked in detail about how important it was to reduce the maximum capacity from 15 to 10 rounds,” she said.

Buono also supports eliminating “all loopholes” in background checks of prospective firearms purchasers and a requirement that all gun buys be made “face-to-face” and not by mail order or online.

 A Christie spokesman did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.