New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy recently announced that he will roll back Christie administration regulations that were designed to make it easier to carry handguns in the Garden State.
Murphy, a Democrat, announced the decision at a YMCA in Trenton alongside Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, Senate President Steve Sweeney and Glenda Torres, the mother of a man who was fatally shot in the city in 2012.
According to The Associated Press, the changes come after the Republican-led US House of Representatives passed reciprocity legislation that would allow gun owners with a state-issued concealed-carry permit to carry a handgun in any state that allows concealed weapons. The bill hasn’t passed the GOP-controlled Senate, but Murphy announced his decision on as part of his effort to prevent New Jersey from loosening its strict gun laws.
Former Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, changed the state’s strict “justifiable need” requirement to obtain carry permits for handguns. Under the regulation, residents needed to show they faced “serious” threats. Christie’s 2016 change came after he commissioned a panel to study the issue.
The panel was created after Berlin resident Carol Bowne, whose firearm permit application was delayed beyond the statutory limit, was stabbed to death by an ex-boyfriend who later killed himself.
