PA Bill Number: HB335
Title: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons.
Description: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons. ...
Last Action: Re-committed to APPROPRIATIONS
Last Action Date: May 6, 2024
Christie acknowledges changing position on assault rifles :: 12/07/2015
Governor Christie acknowledged in a televised interview Sunday that he changed his position on assault rifles, telling the CBS program Face the Nation he was "educated on it," while serving as United States Attorney.
Christie attacked opponents for supporting a repeal of the state's ban on the sale and possession of semiautomatic rifles when he was running for state Legislature in 1993 and 1995, but as a candidate for the Republican nomination for president has argued he is a supporter of Second Amendment rights. Asked about the change by CBS host John Dickerson, Christie said:
"Well first of all that was 22 years ago, John," Christie said. "And yeah, I've grown up a bit and changed my view and been educated on it. And really, my views changed once I became a prosecutor. When I became a prosecutor, and saw that what the real problem here is, is that we need to give the tools to law enforcement to go on the streets and take criminals off the streets."
As governor, Christie has not proposed to change the ban, but has also vetoed bills that would impose some new restrictions, such as a ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines.
On Nov. 24, Christie was asked in a Fox News interview about a story in the Star-Ledger from 1993 in which he said he was "energized" to enter Republican politics after members of the party tried to end the state's weapons ban. Christie told Fox News he did not remember making the comment, and it "doesn't sound like me."
On Face the Nation Sunday, Christie used recent mass shootings as an opening to criticize Congress and President Obama - especially two presidential rivals, Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky -- for supporting restrictions on the surveillance powers that intelligence agencies use to identify potential terrorist plots.
When Dickerson noted that that change to the law only recently took effect and there was not any indication investigators missed evidence pointing to recent mass killing in San Bernardino, Calif., because of the change in law, Christie said he didn't know of any lapses in California but said the attacks that killed 120 people in Paris were due to an "intelligence failure."
"The only true way to protect the homeland, John, is increased intelligence and increased law enforcement activity," Christie said. "That doesn't mean there are guarantees, but if you give these people the tools, they'll act constitutionally and they'll prevent many, many more attacks than will get through."
The USA Freedom Act adopted this spring by bipartisan majorities changed the way the government collects telephone "meta data," which shows phone numbers called and the duration of calls. Where previously the government collected the data and searched for calls into the United States from numbers associated with suspected terrorists, the new law requires the phone data to be held by telecommunications companies that can be provided to the government through subpoena.
Cruz voted for the law. Paul voted against it because it renewed other powers granted in the post-9/11 Patriot Act that he argues go too far and violate 4th Amendment rights against unreasonable searches by the government.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/christie-acknowledges-changing-position-on-assault-rifles-1.1468693
