Once again, New Jersey Dems take aim at Christie veto

Democrats who control New Jersey’s Senate will try again to override another one of Gov. Chris Christie’s vetoes.

Christie conditionally vetoed a bill requiring that police be notified by anyone seeking to erase mental health records to purchase a gun. The governor said he couldn’t support what he called fragmented statutes that further confuse a cumbersome area of the law.

“This is a change that the courts sought from the legislature,” said Sen. Fred Madden, D-Gloucester,  primary sponsor of the measure. “Put simply, judges may have no way of knowing a person is a current threat to society if they don’t have access to information from local authorities.”

Senate President Steve Sweeney, also D-Gloucester, said Wednesday it’s a common-sense piece of legislation.

“This is something that’s needed to ensure that people that do have mental health issues when they’re going to get their records expunged, the local law enforcement that know the people have the ability to weigh in so that people who shouldn’t have guns don’t have them,” he said.

Every previous attempt to override a Christie veto failed because of the lack of Republican support, but Sweeney said he hopes this time will be different.

“They need to stand up and stand up for the people not the politics. This has been issue after issue,  and this is not political at all,” he said. “This is an issue we all agreed on, we believed in, and we passed.”