NJ Senate Committee OKs Compromise Gun Safety Bill
By David Madden
TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) -- A New Jersey state senate committee today approved a series of measures on the gun control front.
But their work doesn't go nearly as far as their colleagues in the state Assembly have gone.
Most of the Senate Budget Committee's votes went along party lines, with one notable exception. State senator Jeff Van Drew, a Cape May County Democrat, voted "no" on plans to restrict sales of .50-calibre assault rifles and to ban state investment in firms that manufacture weaponry.
"Every time there's a tragedy, I don't know that we should create a new law that's going to affect law-abiding citizens who happen to be gun owners," he said.
The committee also approved a measure, over the objections of some who suggest the plan might violate a person's due process, that would require greater reporting of those with mental health issues.
What's not in the Senate package is a limit on ammunition magazines to ten bullets, which Assembly proponents have insisted upon.
And how much of this will meet with Gov. Chris Christie's approval remains to be seen.
