New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie bashed the New York Times for its editorial Saturday on the gun “epidemic” in the United States.
“Face the Nation” host John Dickerson asked Christie what his reaction was to the Times’ editorial “in which the editorial writers say it is a moral outrage that people can legally purchase weapons, quote, ‘that kill with brutal speed and efficiency.'”
“It’s typical liberal claptrap from the New York Times,” replied the Republican presidential candidate.
The editorial, titled “End the gun epidemic in America,” was the first editorial published on the front page of the New York Times since 1920. It called for more gun control in the aftermath of a shooting in San Bernardino, Calif, which left 14 dead and 21 others injured.
Instead of more gun control, Christie said the solution to gun crime is putting shooters behind bars and strengthening the mental healthcare system in the U.S.
Christie attacked “this kind of sensationalism,” adding, “remember, the president and the secretary, before they even knew what was going on here, ran out on the first moments after this attack and said this was a gun control issue. I don’t know what gun control laws, John, are going to stop terrorists from attacking us.”
This is the typical liberal approach to the gun control issue, said Christie, who also pushed for greater surveillance of criminals and suspected terrorists and criticized fellow Republican candidates who have worked to limit the reach of the intelligence community.
“You know, the president has said it: No crisis is worth wasting. And they wanted to try to turn this awful tragedy into an excuse to have greater gun control, when what we really need is greater intelligence, which the president has taken away from this country with the complicity of Sens. Cruz and Senator Paul. And we need to make sure that we back our law enforcement, so they can take these criminals off the streets.”
Dickerson also asked Christie why he changed from being an opponent of assault rifles to someone wary of any further restrictions on gun access. In 1994, Christie supported the federal assault-weapons ban, which expired in 2004, and as recently as 2013, Christie supported a New Jersey bill to ban assault rifles in the state. Now the governor says he is against any new federal ban on assault rifles.
Christie replied that his support of a federal assault-weapon ban was 22 years ago and that “I’ve grown up a bit and changed my view and been educated on it.”
“When I became a prosecutor, and saw that what the real problem here is, is that we need to give the tools to law enforcement to go on the streets and take criminals off the streets,” Christie said. “That’s the real important thing that we need to do. We need to empower our law enforcement to do that.”
“This administration hasn’t done it. In fact the FBI director has said that there’s a chill wind blowing through law enforcement,” added Christie. “And a great deal of that is because they don’t have the political support of this administration. When I’m president, they’ll have that support.”
