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Murphy Orders Public Information About Gun Crimes

Governor Phil Murphy signs executive order at Asbury Park Middle School

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy traveled to the Asbury Park Middle School to sign an executive order that requires the state to keep the public informed about gun crimes.

Murphy says the order requires the state to issue monthly reports on gun crimes including the towns where they happened, the type of gun used, and the offense that was committed.

“We will also issue quarterly reports that will break down state by state, and this is really important, where the guns used in the commission of a crime in New Jersey originated from. I’ll tell you right now if that means naming and shaming other states, that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

Murphy hopes that making the information public will help advance regional efforts to stem the trafficking of firearms.

“At least 80 percent of gun crimes in New Jersey are committed with a gun obtained from out of state with many of them coming from states with weaker gun laws. And we cannot be blind to the fact that our gun laws are only as good as those as the states around us.”

Attorney General Gurbir Grewal says New Jersey has some of the toughest gun laws, but too many other states make it easy to buy firearms.

“We’re doing everything in our power to make sure that the scourge of gun violence stops. And we hope that our reports lead other states to do the same. We’ll only start to solve this problem when we work together.”

Brett Sabo is the New jersey chapter leader for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in American. She believes making the information about gun crimes and trafficking pubic will have an impact.

“It will be wonderful as a way raising awareness for everybody who thinks that gun violence happens somewhere else. It happens everywhere. And people will really be able to see that and kind of know that going forward when they vote, when they send their kids to school, when they go to work.”  

The Governor says he’s looking forward to signing six gun bills the Assembly passed last month and are awaiting action in the Senate.