Christie vetoes bill to reduce size of magazines in guns [POLL]

There’s a good chance you may not have heard about Gov. Christie’s veto of a bill passed by the legislature limiting the size of ammunition magazines from 15 rounds down to 10.

There’s a good reason for that.

Because the conditional veto – with emphasis on the word “conditional” – was signed minutes after he was handed a petition with 55 thousand signatures from around the country beckoning him to sign the legislation limiting the size of magazines.

And was done just before everyone went home to celebrate the 4th of July.

Some may think he took the cowards’ way out in vetoing the bill – instead placing the emphasis on more mental health screening.

Others will say he took the more prudent path, in effect, saying that mental health screening should be a necessary component and top priority in keeping guns out of the hands of maniacs.

In his veto of the bill, he says:

“This is the very embodiment of reform in name only. 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.”

“I will not support such a trivial approach to the sanctity of human life, because this is not governing. Governing is confronting problems.”

There is no question that his veto will go over well with gun enthusiasts – and especially the base of the Republican Party with whom he wishes to cull favor in his possible presidential run in 2016.
Which at this point is looking less a possibility and more a certainty.

While there are some who will say that it doesn’t take a 15 round magazine to shoot a deer – neither would it take 10 – or maybe even 5.

In other words, how small a magazine would it take to insure safety if a gun is in the hands of a maniac?
First find the maniac, then treat the maniac – which seems to be the message the Governor is conveying by his conditional veto.

As presented to the Governor, the bill looked to be a band aid on a much larger problem.