Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D-Essex/Passaic) released the following statement Friday on Gov. Christie’s proposals to address gun violence:
“We will certainly take a close look at these proposals. As the Governor said, the Assembly has already passed an anti-gun violence package and that should be considered in concert with the plans laid out today. If there are some worthwhile concepts we will certainly consider them. My concern with the Governor’s plan at this point is not so much what’s in it, but what may not be.
“One area that particularly concerns me is the Governor’s notion that ‘most of the debate surrounding this issue should be about how we deal with criminals.’ While I don’t disagree that we need to have the strictest penalties in place for those who commit gun crimes, the fact of the matter is that dealing with these criminals is what happens after 20 school children are killed or after a movie theater is shot up. We need to make sure we’re doing everything we can to prevent getting to that point period.”