With Some GOP Support, New Jersey Senate Overrides Christie on Guns for the First Time

The New Jersey Senate voted Thursday to override Gov. Chris Christie's veto of gun legislation, a stunning political development that had eluded Democrats for nearly six years.

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By Andrew Seidman and Maddie Hanna

The New Jersey Senate voted Thursday to override Gov. Chris Christie's veto of gun legislation, a stunning political development that had eluded Democrats for nearly six years.

Three Republican senators joined the chamber's 24 Democrats in support of a bill that would make it more difficult for individuals with a history of mental illness to expunge that record in order to buy a firearm.

The bill now heads to the 80-member Assembly, where a two-thirds majority would be needed to override the veto. No voting sessions are scheduled until after the Nov. 3 election, when all 80 seats are on the ballot.

Christie, a Republican running for president, vetoed the bill in August and called for broader changes to the state's mental-health system. Christie has said on the campaign trail that the country does not need new gun laws.

"Running for president, (Christie) is not going to let any gun legislation pass in this state, even if it's sound gun legislation," Democratic Senate President Stephen Sweeney said after the vote.

The governor has pointed to Democrats' failed override attempts as proof of his party leadership, arguing that he could unite the fractured GOP in Congress.

"Fifty-two times the Democrats have tried to override me, and they're 0 for 52," Christie said last month on MSNBC's "Morning Joe. "Because I know how to keep my Republican caucus together on what we need to do."

One of the three Republican senators who voted for the override was Joe Kyrillos, who broke with the governor earlier this year when he announced he was backing former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for president.

Kyrillos wrote on Twitter that his vote "speaks for itself." "Don't read any politics into it, just the right thing to do as I see it," he said.

GOP Sen. Kip Bateman said on the Senate floor, "I don't take pleasure in voting to override the governor. It's a very difficult vote."

Noting the recent mass shooting at an Oregon community college, Bateman added, "I couldn't look myself in the mirror" unless he voted for the override.

The third Republican to join Democrats was Sen. Christopher Connors.

"This bill isn't about Christie running for president. This bill isn't about Sweeney running for governor," Connors said. Sweeney is widely expected to be a candidate for governor in 2017.

Noting that Sweeney had pledged to continue to hold override votes and that Christie's recommendations would take a year to implement, he added, "The people of the State of New Jersey shouldn't have to wait."

The bill would make it more difficult for people previously committed to a mental-health facility to obtain a gun. It would require those seeking to expunge mental-health records with the purpose of buying a firearm to notify law enforcement ahead of time. That way, authorities would be able to tell judges whether the individual posed a danger to public safety.

The bill passed both houses of the Democratic-controlled Legislature this year on unanimous votes. Following Christie's veto, Senate Democrats attempted an override, but some lawmakers were absent, and others did not vote.

"This bill is about public safety. That's it," Democratic Sen. Fred Madden, who sponsored the bill, said on the floor. "We have a dangerous gap within the expungement process."

Before Thursday's vote, Democrats had tried and failed 50 times to override Christie vetoes, according to the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services. The office counts only instances in which a vote was recorded. On some occasions, Democrats have dropped override attempts when it became clear they would not have enough votes.

Christie was "simply asking too much of the Republicans," said Carl Golden, senior contributing analyst with the Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University. "A vote against that was perceived by many to simply be a vote against having stricter gun laws to keep guns out of the hands of mentally ill people."

Republicans also may have been thinking about Christie's lagging presidential campaign and diminished approval at home, Golden said.

"It's no longer as difficult to oppose the governor on something" as it may have been in the past, he said.

Sweeney said, "I give my colleagues on the Republican side an enormous amount of respect, because I'm sure they're going to have some rough days ahead, the way this administration reacts when you don't obey."

Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts, who called the bill a "half-measure," said in a statement: "The comprehensive reforms needed to truly address the gaps in our mental-health system which directly affect public safety have sat untouched in the Legislature for years."

Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto praised the Senate vote and said he would announce plans to hold an override vote in his chamber in the coming weeks.

Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick, a Republican, a cosponsor of the bill, declined to say how he would vote. He said Thursday that he had not spoken to his caucus but would "start making conference calls tonight and tomorrow with members."

For Sweeney, the move to tighten gun laws could play well with his party's base. He also is trying to shed a reputation as Christie's chief Democratic collaborator.

The two worked together to pass an overhaul of the state's pension and health benefits systems for public employees during the governor's first term. That effort has hurt Sweeney politically with public-sector unions, especially since Christie reneged on the law's pledge to earmark more state money for the pension system.

"Sweeney clearly put everything he had on the line to get this done," Golden said.

Of course, all is not lost for Christie, Golden said. "He can still say, 'I'm ahead, 52-1.'"

(c)2015 The Philadelphia Inquirer

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Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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