Chris Christie’s Gays & Guns Problem: What New Jersey Wants, the GOP Reject

[DonViejo]

by David Freedlander Mar 29, 2013 4:45 AM EDT

It’s nearly decision time for the Republican governor on state measures for marriage equality and gun control. But what ‘Blue Jersey‘ favors also might sink him with GOP voters in 2016.

Call it his Mitt Romney moment.

Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey and one of the Republican Party’s best hopes to win the White House in 2106, is about to find out how hard it can be to be both the governor of a blue state and a potential presidential aspirant.

That’s because a pair of emotionally charged bills—one legalizing same-sex marriage, the other calling for stricter restrictions on firearms—are working their way through the New Jersey legislature. Each has the overwhelming backing of New Jersey voters, with recent polls showing that more than twice as many voters supporting each bill than oppose.

But if signing either will win Christie plaudits back home, it could be suicide for his presidential ambitions—just ask Romney, who was hailed in Massachusetts for signing a universal-health-care bill into law, only to be pummeled for it when he appeared on the national stage.

New Jersey already has some of the strictest gun-control measures in the nation, but last month, the State Assembly passed 22 measures that would, among other provisions, limit magazine size, ban the online sales of guns and ammunition, and require a firearms safety training class as a condition to obtain a permit to purchase a firearm.

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/29/chris-christie-s-gays-guns-problem-what-new-jersey-wants-the-gop-rejects.html

[tabbycat31]

1. the marriage equality bill passed last year

and Christie promptly vetoed it (as was expected). The legislature did not have the votes under Corzine (who would have signed it) to pass it.

[DonViejo]

2. According to the article...

the State legislature is three votes shy of overriding Christie's veto.

[tabbycat31]

3. That would be the state Senate

And I'm not sure where the Assembly stands, but it passed the assembly by a much lower margin.

[Aristus]

4. I don't think Christie is going to live until 2106.

He's not that healthy...