New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D) touted to MNSBC on Thursday about the state having some of the strictest firearm laws in the country but stressed the need to enacted more gun control measures.
"You’ve been putting some pressure on your legislature there in there in New Jersey in the wake of the tragedies, the unthinkable tragedies in Uvalde and in Buffalo on gun reform. What does that look like in your state and how might the laws change there?" Willie Geist asked.
"Yeah, we have among the most — the safest gun safety laws in America. I think we’re in the top couple of states. But we could be safer," Murphy replied.
"And so we’ve got gun reform package 3.0. We’ve already passed two significant and signed two significant packages of legislation, but we need to do more. Whether it’s how you store your ammunition, how old you should be to own a long gun, you should just like you take a lesson to learn how to drive a car, you should do the same thing before you’re purchasing a gun," he continued. "Common sense stuff."
Murphy said because guns that are used crime originate out of the state most of the time, the rest of the country needs to enact similar gun control laws.
"Eighty five percent of the crime guns that are retrieved in New Jersey come from out of state. And so as strong as we might be in terms of our laws, we’re not an island. We need the country to move forward as well. So we need both and God willing we will get that."
Murphy previously commended the Senate for agreeing to a bipartisan framework to address gun and mental health issues, but, again, called for more action.
"While this agreement is only a narrow first step, it is recognition that the ability of the gun lobby to block any and all common sense gun safety laws by its mere presence is waning and reform is possible. The door has cracked open. We must open it wider," he said in a statement.
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