New Jersey Opens a New Path to Gun Safety

This is a time of real progress on gun safety — no thanks to Washington. President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell continue to block vital and popular gun-safety legislation. The U.S. House of Representatives this year passed a bill extending background checks to virtually all gun purchases, and it appears poised to pass legislation to allow courts to temporarily take guns from people who are a danger to themselves or others. But gun-safety legislation continues to languish in the Senate. In the states, fortunately, it’s a very different story.

Legislatures across the country have recently passed laws — banning semi-automatic “assault” rifles in Connecticut, for example, and requiring background checks on ammunition sales in California. Yet the problem with these initiatives is obvious: Guns can be moved across state lines. Shooters in Chicago, for instance, might use guns sourced in Indiana or Mississippi, where traffickers can continue to exploit weak laws, regardless of what Illinois might do.