Murphy, governors from neighboring states vow to fight gun violence with new pact

With gun violence on the rise across the nation, New Jersey and three neighboring states have forged an agreement to share data about firearms used in crimes, in an effort to curb illegal gun trafficking and reduce shootings.

Gov. Phil Murphy joined fellow Democratic governors — Kathy Hochul of New York, Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania, and Ned Lamont of Connecticut — in signing the pact during a virtual announcement Thursday.

“None of us on the screen here are blind to the fact that our individual state’s gun laws are only as good as those in the rest of our neighborhood,” Murphy said. “It’s a classic case of where there’s safety in numbers.”

The announcement came hours before Murphy, who is running for a second term Nov. 2, appeared at a rally in Burlington County to speak out against gun violence alongside former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, the Arizona Democrat who has become a gun control advocate after surviving an assassination attempt in 2012.

Giffords issued a statement Thursday endorsing Murphy for re-election, saying the governor “takes courageous actions to end gun violence in New Jersey,” and Murphy said at the event Giffords is the single largest advocate for gun safety “in the history of America.”

Under the new agreement, law enforcement agencies in the four states would share data to investigate gun crimes, as well as discover and arrest straw purchasers, suspect dealers, and firearm traffickers.

Hochul said the information will especially be key to tracking guns that flow into the region illegally from other states with weaker laws, often from the South.

“I believe this is going to give us and our law enforcement entities in each of our states the tools we need to be able to trace guns that are coming from other states, to understand when a crime has been committed,” she said. “We want to share information with our neighboring state if someone is on the run.”

Murphy noted that in New Jersey, about 85% of guns used in crimes between January and July of this year came from out of state. Of those, 25% came from Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina alone, he said.

“Guns don’t understand the concept of state lines, but those who purchase them do,” Murphy said. “Working together, we can as a region put in place the safeguards we need to combat the trade in illicit guns.”

Added Lamont: “We have more damn guns on the street than ever before. And if you’re not taking guns seriously, you’re not taking law and order seriously.”

Both shootings and gun-related homicides are up in New Jersey, according to data from the New Jersey State Police shows that both shootings and gun-related homicides are up so far in 2021. Between January and May, 87 people were shot and killed, up 36% from the same period in 2020, the data shows.

That mirrors a national trend. Data shows 2021 is on pace to be the worst year for gun violence in the United States in decades.

From Jan. 1 to Sept. 15, a total of 14,516 people died from gun violence in the country, according to the Gun Violence Archive. That’s a 9% increase from 2020.

Wolf said the coronavirus pandemic is part of the reason, with the health crisis causing stress, fear, and anger, and “stripping away support networks.”

He noted Pennsylvania saw a 48% increase in gun homicides last year.

”Gun violence cuts right to the heart of our communities, tearing families apart,” Wolf said. “It sows fear. It sows distrust. And just like so many forms of systemic inequality ... interpersonal gun violence disproportionately affects people in communities of color.”

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration applauds the pact, saying it “recognizes the reality that firearms cross state lines, and therefore we need a multijurisdictional approach to tackling gun violence.”

But some Pennsylvania state lawmakers told WFMZ, a television station in Allentown, they’re skeptical of the agreement.

“We all want to see fewer shootings but the best way to do that isn’t by sharing data. It’s by punishing the people who are actually doing the shooting,” Pennsylvania state Sen. Dave Argall, a Republican, told the station. “We need prosecutors to use the laws that are already on the books.”

Murphy has repeatedly enacted policies to tighten gun control in New Jersey, already home to some of the toughest firearm laws in the nation.

He has signed more than a dozen gun laws and proposed more. His administration publishes monthly reports through a program known as NJGUNStat, through which law enforcement officials release charts showing the number of shootings in the state or the number of guns recovered in cities and counties each month, as well as quarterly reports on their origins.

And Murphy said this new pact expands upon the States for Gun Safety Coalition, a group he and other neighboring governors formed in 2018 to share information to help prevent people who pose a risk to their community from buying a gun across state lines.

Former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican challenging Murphy in next month’s election, has criticized the governor for the state’s rise in crime. Ciattarelli has said he supports loosening New Jersey’s gun laws to make it easier to obtain a concealed-carry permit and that he’d lobby to repeal the state’s ban on magazines with more than a 10-round capacity.

“People have a right to bear arms,” Ciattarelli said in August.

At the rally Thursday afternoon, Murphy described himself as a “complete fanboy” of Giffords, who was welcomed by a crowd of about 150 people to a raucous standing ovation.

“I’ve known the darkest days,” Giffords said, explaining how it was a fight — and continues to be — to walk again and relearn how to speak.

“I’ve not lost my voice,” she added. “I’m also in a second fight. The fight to end gun violence!”

Murphy said his administration had made gains in strengthening gun laws but conceded there’s still more progress to be done with a second term.

Referring to Ciattarrelli, Murphy said: “The other guy wants to bring concealed carry to New Jersey.”

The event was held at the Burlington County Agricultural Center in Moorestown.

That’s where Ciattarelli introduced his choice for lieutenant governor, former state Sen. Diane Allen.

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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @johnsb01.

Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.

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