By Claude Brodesser-Akner | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Gov. Chris Christie this week took a step he would have thought unimaginable when he began his political career almost 25 years ago. He made it easier for people in New Jersey to legally carry a handgun.
His attorney general announced that it had changed a long-standing gun regulation to allow anyone facing a "serious threat" to be issued a permit to carry a handgun.
Since 1924, New Jersey has had some of the strictest gun control laws in the land. It was then that the state Supreme Court ruled that a New Jerseyan must first prove a "justifiable need" to carry a firearm before being allowed to bear arms.
The change Christie made to the regulations was a stark as the transformation on gun rights that he's undergone himself in recent years.
Here's how the governor's position on guns has morphed over time.
April 1993: 'Nobody needs a semi-automatic assault weapon.'
"'The issue which has energized me to get into this race is the recent attempt by certain Republican legislators to repeal New Jersey's ban on
assault weapons," Christie said in a statement released on April 14, 1993 as he entered the race for state Senate.
''In today's society, no one needs a semi-automatic assault weapon.'"
Christie would make clear he respected the Second Amendment, but opposed any "weakening" of New Jersey's tough gun laws.
He would fail to qualify for the senate election.
May 1995: Legalizing assault weapons is 'dangerous,' 'crazy' and 'radical'
When Christie ran for the state Assembly in 1995, he made a bigger issue of gun control, sending out a campaign mailer calling a plan to legalize assault rifles by his GOP primary opponents Anthony Bucco and Michael Patrick Carroll "crazy" and arguing "They must be stopped."
He lost.
June 2009: Blasts Corzine ad claiming Christie stands with the NRA as "a lie"
When Christie was attacked by a Gov. Jon Corzine ad as someone who "stands with the NRA," his gubernatorial campaign fired back in June 2009. It issued a press release that blasted Corzine's claim that he stood with the NRA as "a lie":
- Corzine Lie: Christie stands with the NRA
- FACT: Chris Christie supports the assault weapons ban and all current gun laws. He opposes attempts to permit conceal and carry laws in New Jersey – hardly the NRA position.
July 2009: Opposes federal efforts to supersede tough N.J. gun law
While running for governor in the summer of 2009, Christie opposed federal legislation that would would have superseded New Jersey's harsh gun laws restricting carrying and transporting concealed weapons.
Backed by New Jersey's entire Republican congressional delegation, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2009 would have allowed any American with a valid permit to carry a gun in their home state the same right in any other.
Christie's rationale, however, was a belief in state's rights, not an opposition to the legislation's goal.
October 2009: 'I favor some of the gun-control measures we have in New Jersey'
In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity on the doorstep of the 2009 election, Christie told the conservative commentator that he didn't want to see guns flooding the streets out of concern for the safety of police officers.
"Listen, I favor some of the gun control measures we have in New Jersey," said Christie.
"Bad idea," said Hannity.
December 2010: Commutes sentence of man caught with gun legally purchased out of state
Brian Aitken was arrested in January 2009 after his mother became worried about his well-being and called the police. Responding officers found three unloaded handguns and hollow point bullets in the trunk of his car. They arrested Aitken for unlawful possession of a weapon, a large capacity magazine and prohibited ammunition.
The guns had been legally purchased in Colorado, but Aitken was ultimately convicted of unlawful possession and sentenced to seven years in prison. He would have been eligible for parole after three years.
After four months in prison, Christie commuted Aitken's sentence to time served in December 2010. "Considering both Aitken's offense and punishment, the governor believes this is the most compassionate and just solution," said Christie's spokesman at the time.
January 2013: NRA's Obama ad "reprehensible."
In the wake of the 2012 Newtown, Conn. school massacre -- in which 20 children between six and seven years old were fatally shot along with a half-dozen adult faculty and staff -- the NRA attacked President Obama's call for comprehensive gun control reforms as hypocritical given that his own daughters received the benefit of armed guards.
“To talk about the president’s children or any public officers children who have, not by their own choice, but by requirement, to have protection, to use that somehow to try to make a political point I think is reprehensible,” Christie said during a January 2013 press conference.
Christie would get a "C" rating from the NRA's 2013 gun rights report card.
August 2013: Vetoes ban he'd earlier proposed on .50 caliber assault rifles
After calling for a ban on future sales of the .50 caliber assault rifle as part of a package of violent crime prevention measures in April 2013, the governor had a change of heart.
In August 2013, Pro-Gun New Hampshire issued a warning to Christie that he should veto several gun control bills on his desk, including the ban on the .50 caliber rifle.
Later that same month, Christie vetoed the ban on the assault weapon he'd proposed, saying the Democratic-authored legislation would have also required owners to give them up.
"Tellingly, the Legislature points to no instance of this class of firearms being used by even a single criminal in New Jersey," Christie wrote. "The wide scope of this total ban, therefore, will not further public safety, but only interfere with lawful recreational pastimes."
S.P. Sullivan | NJ Advance Media
August 2013: Bans those on terrorism watch list from buying guns
Even as he blocked the ban on large capacity magazines, Christie, seeking reelection, signed into law a bill banning those on the federal terrorist watch list from buying guns.
While it helped him win reelection in New Jersey, his support for banning gun sales to those on the government's 'no-fly' list would be a decision that would later haunt him in the 2016 New Hampshire primary.
As the GOP chair of New Hampshire's Hillsborough County put it in December 2015, "Flying is not a constitutional right...Buying a gun, and owning and carrying, is."
January 2014: Declines to defend N.J.'s "justifiable need" requirement for gun permits
In January 2014, as Christie laid the groundwork for his 2016 presidential run, a spokesman for the governor told the Star-Ledger that "the governor supports New Jersey's already tough gun laws."
However, Christie's actions at the time suggested he was starting to abandon that support.
In January 2014, the governor's attorney general declined to defend one of the state's most stringent gun control laws, a statute dating from 1924 requiring Garden State residents to demonstrate a "justifiable need" if they want a permit to carry a handgun.
Instead, Christie's attorney general allowed the Monmouth County prosecutor to handle its defense before the state Supreme Court.
July 2014: Vetoes large capacity magazine ban
Prior support for gun laws is not the same as embracing new ones, as the governor showed when he vetoed a bill that would have reduced the permitted size of ammunition magazines from 15 rounds to 10.
The gunman at the Sandy Hook Elementary School used 30 round capacity magazines, but Christie was not persuaded it made a difference in the number of lives lost.
"Why not go to zero?" asked Christie, rhetorically, at the time.
"It simply defies common sense to believe that imposing a new and entirely arbitrary number of bullets that can be lawfully loaded into a firearm will somehow eradicate, or even reduce, future instances of mass violence,” Christie said. “Nor is it sufficient to claim that a ten-round capacity might spare an eleventh victim.”
March 2015: Blames Democrats for his gun record
Just a few months before he'd launch his presidential campaign, the governor moved to re-frame his record on guns as the product of a recalcitrant and liberal Legislature, not a lack of enthusiasm for the Second Amendment.
Speaking at a town hall in Whippany, the governor addressed the question of why he hadn't done more to advance gun rights while he was running New Jersey.
"You want things like that? Elect a new legislature. I'll tell you right now, I got Senator (Anthony) Bucco here. If he was in the majority in the New Jersey state Senate there would be a completely different approach to the Second Amendment in New Jersey than there is now," Christie said. "If you really want to change those laws in New Jersey, send me a Republican legislature and with a Republican legislature you'll have a governor who will respect appropriately the rights of law-abiding citizens to be able to protect themselves."
April 2015: Snubbed by NRA
When almost a dozen likely 2016 Republican presidential hopefuls were invited to address the National Rifle Association's annual convention, Christie was not.
Christie is one of only two big GOP names missing from the NRA's lineup, according to a report from The Tennessean. Christie, who was given a "C" rating by the NRA when he ran for re-election in 2013, was not invited.
"We have a lengthy program and we have the longest list of potential presidential candidates to speak at the Leadership Forum this go-around, and we just could not accommodate everyone," said Jennifer Baker, director of public affairs for the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action.
June 2015: Wants domestic violence victims to get guns faster
On the eve of his presidential campaign launch in June 2015, the governor announced that his attorney general would seek a change in gun regulations so that "those living under a direct or material threat" would get their gun permit applications processed "quickly and without delay."
He also appointed a commission to study how to expand access to firearms for New Jerseyans.
The next month, while campaigning in Iowa, he lashed at a pro-gun rights voter who equated the Garden State's gun laws with the governor himself.
August 2015: Vows to pardon all legal gun owners arrested in N.J.
While touring Iowa, Christie promises to continue to use his pardon power to bring relief to any legal gun owner unwittingly ensnared by New Jersey's tough gun transport laws.
He also said he supported the idea of a state law allowing for firearm permit reciprocity for out-of-state gun carry permits.
November 2015: Haunted by his 1993 self
In an awkward Fox News interview, Christie at first claimed he "didn't remember" his 1993 statements about getting into politics to save New Jersey's assault weapons ban, and then said he'd simply changed his mind over time.
“I learned the difference, and I learned what the limitations are of these laws that people are talking about and how they much, much more greatly infringe on law-abiding citizens than they do anything to prevent crime,” Christie said. “Having learned that, my position’s changed.”
December 2015: New Hampshire NRA throws down the gaunlet
In December 2015, the head of the gun rights group Gun Owners of New Hampshire warned that if Christie didn't radically shift his position on guns, "it will finish his candidacy."
Mitch Kopacz, the head of the group, offered a way out for Christie.
New Jersey "has some of the most restrictive firearm laws in the country in his state," said Kopacz. "He has to fix that."
January 2016: Attacks Obama executive order on guns
After Obama used his executive order to require occasional gun sellers to order background checks on prospective buyers and to tighten laws for gun sales to those who have committed domestic-abuse offenses, the governor pounced.
“The president is a petulant child,” Christie told Fox News. “Whenever he doesn’t get what he wants...this president acts like a king.”
Two years earlier, however, Christie had signed into law a bill requiring submission of mental health records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
And a year after blasting the president's executive action, Christie would sign into law a similar bill banning those convicted domestic violence crime or subject to a domestic violence restraining order from possessing a firearm.
January 2016: Vetoes bill barring gang members, carjackers from getting guns
With his 2016 presidential chances hinging on the February New Hampshire primary, Christie in January let die a bill that would have prevented anyone convicted of gang activity, carjacking, or making terroristic threats from buying or owning a gun in New Jersey.
The Legislature had passed the bill in June 2015 with without a single 'no' vote.
Christie's office declined to offer insight into the reason for his veto.
April 2016: Says 'serious threats' enough for a carry permit
In April 2016, Christie's attorney general implements the recommendations of the governor's panel on gun laws. It changes its regulations to allow anyone with a "serious threat" against their life to apply for a gun permit, and minimally relaxed restrictions on how and where a gun owner may drive with their firearm in New Jersey.
Democrats contend that as a result, every pizza delivery guy and Uber driver will soon be carrying a gun, and vow to fight the move.
August 2016: Blocks revised smart gun law
In August 2016, Christie vetoed a bill requiring retailers to stock “smart guns” which only fire when held by their owner, and urged Democratic lawmakers to loosen restrictions on concealed carry to allow anyone facing a "serious threat" to their life to carry a gun.
January 2017: Facing override, signs domestic abuser gun ban
After previously vetoing a bill restricting domestic abusers access to firearms, Christie explained he signed the reworked version because it added a provision that increases criminal penalties for offenses and upping maximum sentences for repeat offenders that he urged lawmakers to adopt.
But it was only after lawmakers moved to override the governor's veto that a compromise emerged.
March 2017: I'll see you in court!
Democrats assail Christie's latest tweak to expand gun regulations to anyone facing a "serious threat" as both dangerous and illegal. And having passed a concurrent resolution last December to stop its implementation, say they will likely go to court to stop it.
A spokesman for the governor said he welcomes their litigation.
"The governor said repeatedly last year that the Legislature was wrong on this and he will fight them. The actual quote during one of his appearances on Ask the Governor was, 'They’re wrong, and we’ll fight them.'" said Brian Murray. "The legislature’s concurrent resolution was procedurally deficient and substantively incorrect, and we expect to prevail in any challenge."
March 2017: What the NRA thinks of Christie now
In 2013, he got a C rating from the NRA.
"That's like an 'F' for most Republicans," Rice University presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said at the time.
But after Monday's gun rights expansion, the NRA had only kind things to say about the governor.
"We applaud Governor Christie for having the political courage to stand up to Trenton politicians who have been more interested in harassing lawful gun owners rather than getting serious about the state's real problems," said Darin Goens, the NRA state liaison for New Jersey.
"Frankly, it's about time that those of us in New Jersey are afforded the same fundamental right that citizens across the country are able to exercise. Today's action signals hope for law-abiding New Jerseyans who have been treated like second class citizens for too long."
Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser.
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