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Chris Christie on Gun Control |
"The issue which has energized me to get into this race is the recent attempt by certain Republican legislators to repeal NJ's ban on assault weapons.
"I believe that each state should have the right to make firearms laws as they see fit. I don't believe it's right for the federal government to get into the middle of this and decide firearms laws for the people of the state of NJ," Christie told "The Record" in July 2009.
Q: Are there any issues where you are moderate to left as a Republican?
A: I favor some of the gun-control measures we have in NJ.
Q: Bad idea.
A: We have a densely populated state, and there's a big handgun problem in NJ. On certain gun control issues, looking at it from a law-enforcement perspective, seeing how many police officers were killed, we have an illegal gun problem in NJ.
Q: Should every citizen in your state be allowed to get a licensed weapon if they want one?
A: In NJ, that's not going to happen.
Q: Why?
A: With the Democratic legislature we have, there's no way those type of things--
Q: Would you support it?
A: What I support are commonsense laws that will allow people to protect themselves, but I also am very concerned about the safety of our police officers on the streets, very concerned. And I want to make sure that we don't have an abundance of guns out there"