The final tally in today’s gun-control legi-thon: Twenty (20) proposed bills approved, including one requiring that certain mental health records become part of background checks, another that bans people on the federal terrorist watch list from purchasing firearms and another that reduces the number of rounds an ammo magazine can hold to 10 rounds from 15.
One measure would end ammunition sales online or by telephone or mail order. Another would give mental health professionals the authority to determine whether a gun should be seized from someone.
Another approved bill would establish weapon-free zones around schools, day care centers, public housing facilities, and public buildings — similar to drug laws.
The Law & Public Safety Committee also gave its stamp of approval to a proposed law that would make firearms records exempt from discovery through OPRA – a measure that would avoid the trouble stirred when The Journal News last year published the names and addresses of handgun permit holders in Westchester and Rockland.
The panel also approved a bill, sponsored by Bergen Democrats Valerie Vainieri Huttle and Gordon Johnson, that would require gun owners to complete a safety training class before being allowed to buy a gun.
Vainieri also co-sponsored a measure with fellow Bergen Democrat Connie Wagner that would require that firearms purchaser identification cards display a digitalized color picture of the card holder and that the card be renewed every five years. Unlike driver’s licenses, the cards currently don’t have photos or expiration dates.
“Newtown, Connecticut will go down in history as the last straw,” said Democratic state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, also of Bergen County, who promised to move similar legislation through her side of the Legislature.
The Assembly bills are scheduled for a full vote next week.
Two dozen proposed bills in all were put before the committee in Trenton, the seat of a state that already has some of the strictest guns laws in the U.S. Lots more people attended – and spoke. NJ State Police tossed two rowdies. Someone reportedly came dressed as George Washington.
The day-long hearing drew hundreds of opponents, who filled both the committee chamber and an overflow room. Meanwhile, protestors demonstrated outside. READ MORE....
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