Smart gun bill, ban on certain convicts owning guns vetoed

Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a pair of gun-related bills Tuesday, one that proposed changing New Jersey's strict requirement that firearm dealers eventually sell only so-called "smart guns" and another measure that would have barred carjackers and other convicts from owning a gun.

Christie's vetoes come as he seeks to persuade Republican presidential primary voters to support his candidacy.

The legislation over smart guns, which can only be fired by their owner, passed the Democratic-controlled Legislature this year after President Barack Obama announced a memo calling on federal agencies to issue a report outlining ways to expedite the technology.

A New Jersey law passed in 2002 currently mandates that retailers begin selling only smart, or personalized, handguns within three years of them being available anywhere in the country, but the law has never gone into effect because no guns have been classified as meeting the criteria necessary to trigger the requirement.

Under the legislation Christie vetoed, retailers would have been allowed to continue selling traditional handguns but also required to keep an inventory of at least one kind of smart, or personalized, handgun within three years of their availability in New Jersey or elsewhere in the country.

Christie also rejected a bill that disqualifies people convicted of gang criminality, carjacking, racketeering and making terroristic threats from owning or buying a gun. New Jersey law already prevents other convicts, including those convicted of assault, burglary and robbery, from gun ownership.

The legislation passed unanimously in the state Senate and with no negative votes in the Assembly and only eight abstentions.

Democratic Assemblyman Tim Eustace said Christie failed to act on a "no-brainer bill" that had bipartisan support.

"Gov. Christie's failure to act is incomprehensible," he said.

The smart gun legislation passed despite Republican opposition.

Gun rights activists worried that actions taken in Maryland and California in 2014 could have activated the law in New Jersey. They argued that the vetoed legislation amounted to an attempt to compel the market to accept "dangerous and unreliable technology."

"This legislation swaps one failed mandate for another," said Scott Bach, executive director of the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs.

The company Armatix markets a .22-caliber handgun that can only be fired if it's within range of a unique wristwatch, but New Jersey's Christie-appointed attorney general determined in 2014 that the weapon does not meet the state's definition of a personalized handgun.

Lawmakers say the existing law had the unintended consequence of delaying the sale of personalized handguns because opponents of the New Jersey law pressured gun retailers in other states not to sell the weapons.

Christie did not act on the measures on Tuesday, a practice known as a "pocket veto" that means a bill does not become law. He did not make any statement on either bill or explain his decision.

Democratic state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, who introduced the smart gun legislation, said firearm modernization is inevitable and plans to re-introduce the legislation in the new session.

"Smart guns are the future of firearms in this country and I am confident they will reach the market and become the gun of choice for the majority of consumers in the coming years," she said.

Christie's position on guns has changed over time.

As a candidate for state office two decades ago, he supported a ban on assault weapons, a position at odds with many conservative voters. Christie now emphasizes that he has vetoed such a ban. He does not mention that he signed other legislation unpopular with some conservatives, like a measure barring those on a terror watch list from purchasing firearms.

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