Christie goes around lawmakers to loosen gun carry rules

• New rules were adopted loosening restrictions on gun carry permits, Gov. Chris Christie said Monday
• N.J. residents can obtain handgun carry permits by demonstrating they are the subjects of “’serious threats’
• Democratic lawmakers said they will go to court to block the new rules

Gov. Chris Christie announced on Monday the adoption of regulations that would loosen restrictions on citizens seeking gun carry permits, surprising some state legislators who thought they had blocked the proposal last year and potentially sparking a political firestorm that could end in the courts.

The Governor’s Office sent out a press release late in the business day saying the new rules had been adopted after an official 60-day public comment period. But state legislators seemed taken aback, saying they heard about the adoption of the regulations for the first time late Monday and believed they that had blocked the changes in two resolutions passed last year.

Christie’s office did not immediately respond to questions about the proposal, and did not explain in the press release what legal grounds were being used to justify adoption of the revised regulations in light of those resolutions. He said last year that he did not properly receive the resolutions that had been passed in the spring. That led to legislators' passing another set of resolutions on the same subject in December.

The new rules announced by the Governor’s Office would allow New Jersey residents to obtain handgun carry permits by demonstrating that they are the subjects of "serious threats" that are not directed specifically at an individual, "but which establish more than mere generalized fears or concerns,” according to the press release.

That would replace the present rules, which require that an applicant to carry a handgun show a “justifiable need,” a phrase courts have interpreted to mean “specific threats” or “previous attacks.” It’s a high bar that some gun rights groups have said is difficult to meet, but one that state and federal courts have upheld as a reasonable and constitutional public-safety measure.

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The state Assembly and the Senate each passed resolutions last year to block the proposal, with a rarely used power provided by the New Jersey Constitution to strike down regulations that defy legislative intent.

Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, said she heard about the new rules as she was driving home from a memorial service for Jamie Fox, the longtime Democratic strategist who died last month. Christie was also at the memorial service, which was held in Hamilton.

“We will have to go to court to uphold the Constitution, which clearly allows us to do this,” she said of the resolutions blocking the changes to the gun regulations.

She later said in a news release that the governor cannot simply “ignore” legislators’ actions, adding, “I am confident that we are on firm legal footing.”

Scott L. Bach, the executive director of a gun rights group, praised Christie in a release sent out Monday night. He said the new rules would bring New Jersey in line with other states.

“We applaud Governor Christie for adopting this new regulation despite the efforts of anti-gun lawmakers to kill it,” said Bach, the executive director of the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs. “New Jersey’s days denying right to carry to its citizens are numbered.”

When the revised gun carry regulations were proposed more than a year ago, proponents pointed to the fatal stabbing of a Berlin Township woman by her boyfriend as she waited for a gun permit to be approved. Christie has pardoned out-of-state residents charged with carrying a weapon illegally in New Jersey when they were legally allowed to carry a weapon in their own states.