Anti-Gun Chris Christie and John Kasich - Granite Grok

Anti-Gun Chris Christie and John Kasich

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Guest Post by NHFC, INC. on DECEMBER 9, 2015

As we get closer to New Hampshire’s important “First in the Nation” Presidential primary, we will send several emails which will contain important information about the various Presidential candidates’ views on the Second Amendment. These emails are intended to educate you, the law abiding New Hampshire firearms owners. They are not an endorsement of any particular candidate.
Governor Chris Christie, (R-NJ)

Since he became a presidential candidate, Governor Christie has been bragging about all of the people who were convicted of crimes under New Jersey’s draconian gun laws that he has subsequently pardoned.

Don’t be fooled! This is not the pro-gun act that Gov. Christie wants you to think it is. First, to our knowledge, Gov. Christie has only pardoned one New Jersey resident. It seems that visitors to the state who are ensnared by New Jersey’s anti-gun laws are more likely to get “excused”. And then, only after a huge public outcry. For example, Shaneen Allen, is a nurse, single mother and of course a female. When the outcry was loud Christie pardoned her. But the funny thing is that Gov. Christie has opposed nationwide concealed carry recognition. That’s right, had congress passed the very bill that Christie opposes, Shaneen Allen would not have gone to jail and a pardon would not have been necessary.

In the case, Drake V. Jerejian, Governor Christie and his administration defended New Jersey’s highly restrictive concealed carry permit law. It is virtually impossible for otherwise law abiding people to carry firearms in New Jersey and when a case was brought to change it Chris Christie directed his Attorney General to support the law. You can read the documents here.

Gov. Christie has repeatedly refused to meet with our friends from the New Jersey Second Amendment Society. Why won’t he talk with them and hear their concerns? Probably because he is hostile to firearms civil rights.

This is an old political trick, pretend to support an issue but avoid meeting with activists and have a staff member constantly assure the activists that the politician is really on your side.

Gov. Christie claims that he can’t do anything because of New Jersey’s Democrat controlled legislature. This is a falsehood. When Christie wanted so called pension reform, he demanded pension reform and created a stacked commission to give him political cover for the outcome that he wanted. He could do the same thing and repeal New Jersey’s gun and magazine ban, enact shall issue concealed carry with reciprocity or any other pro-gun reforms.

The truth is Chris Christie has been an anti gun activist for his entire political career. He sent out this mailer when he ran for New Jersey State Senate in the early 1990s.

Fox News’ Bret Baeir asked him about this quote from 1993:
“The issue which has motivated me to get into this race is the recent attempt by certain Republican legislators to repeal New Jersey’s ban on assault weapons,” Christie said at the time.

The full Christie quote, not shown by Fox News, goes even further:
“In today’s society, no one needs a semiautomatic assault weapon,” he said. “We already have too many firearms in our communities.”

Now to be fair, 1993 was 22 years ago. However, we cannot find a single pro-gun action by Gov. Christie in the following 22 years. Gov. Christie appears to be a committed anti-gun activist.

The Governor of New Jersey appoints the attorney general, all county prosecutors, every judge and the head of the State Police. As Governor, Chris Christie appointed liberal, anti-gun County Prosecutors, including Robert Bernardi, who headed former anti-gun Governor Jon Corzine’s “Firearms Task Force”, which was instrumental in passing a one gun a month law in New Jersey.

If President Obama can use his phone and pen to eradicate your rights Governor Christie can do the same thing to restore your rights. But he doesn’t want to because he agrees with New Jersey’s anti-gun laws.

The Wall Street Journal reported that:
“Mr. Christie has previously stated that he supports “strictly enforcing” New Jersey’s existing gun-control laws, which are some of the strongest in the U.S. He has vetoed some bills that would provide additional restrictions, such as reducing gun magazine capacity.”

Being pro-gun is doing the right thing when no one is looking. If Christie was really pro-gun, on his first day in office he would have pardoned ANYONE, who was EVER convicted of a possessory only firearms offense in New Jersey. In New Jersey these could be trivial things like stopping for lunch on the way to the range since no deviations are allowed when transporting firearms. Or having a gun in the passenger compartment of a car instead of the trunk while going to the range. These so called “crimes” are victimless and only occur in places like New Jersey. But sadly, there are thousands of people with these convictions on their records and Christie only pardoned a few of these folks.

One state resident, Brian Aitken, (who arguably didn’t even commit a crime), wasn’t pardoned. Gov. Christie merely commuted his sentence. In other words he let Aitken out of jail but Brian Aitken still has a felony record.

Our friends at Iowa Gun Owners have done a terrific job of documenting the Christie anti-gun record. In short, Chris Christie cannot be trusted with your rights! He is very similar to President Obama, after all he did give the president a big hug!

Governor John Kasich, (R-OH)

NHFC Training Director Alan Rice attended a Kasich Town Hall meeting in Goffstown. When I asked Alan what he thought of Kasich he said: “Kasich did not seem to fully understand world affairs, particularly, Middle Eastern issues and National Security.” I asked him for specifics and Alan told me that Kasich had dates, times and places wrong when he talked about some of the current and past affairs in the Middle East.

I’ll be honest, very few people can remember all the dates, times and historical facts that Alan can remember. But if a person is running for president and conducting town hall meetings he better have his facts straight. OK, so your probably saying even if we agree that Gov. John Kasich lacks understanding of world affairs, what is his position on firearms civil rights issues?

Well the answer is simple. In 1994, when he was a US Congressman John Kasich voted for the Clinton Gun and Magazine ban. Nothing more needs to be said. Kasich not only lacks a solid understanding of world affairs and world history, but he is also anti-gun.

And if voting for the Clinton gun and magazine ban is not enough proof, as Governor of Ohio Kasich signed medicaid reform that contained a version of “see a shrink lose your guns.” Governor Kasich is simply another politiciam who will excuse criminal behavior as mental illness and by extension would likely void the Second Amendment rights of anyone who sees a “shrink”.

Bottom line: Governors Kasich and Christie have demonstrated by their actions that they are probably hostile to your Second Amendment rights.

Watch your email because we will be sending more email updates on all of the presidential candidates.

Thanks for your support.

In Liberty,

Scott A. Krauss
Vice President – NHFC

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