In about-face, N.J. Senate president now supports limiting gun ammo

Some relatives of the victims of the school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, joined New Jersey lawmakers in supporting legislation that would limit the maximum capacity of gun magazines to 10 rounds instead of the current 15.

 

Six-year-old Dylan Hockley was one of the 26 who were killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings. Reducing the number of bullets in a magazine would increase the time it takes to reload and could help save lives, said his mother, Nicole Hockley.

“What happened to Newtown can happen anywhere, any quiet town, any busy city. No community is immune, and any of you could be in my position,” she said Monday at the Statehouse in Trenton. “That’s why it’s important to make meaningful changes now.”

Senate President Steve Sweeney, who held up a vote on the measure last year, said that talking with victims’ families has convinced him to support the measure now.

While this effort to control gun violence is getting attention, gun rights advocates in New Jersey are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a lawsuit that would make it easier to acquire a permit to carry a concealed gun.

Sweeney said he’s not sure whether Gov. Chris Christie would sign the bill limiting the gun magazines. However, he said, if he can change his mind, Christie can too.