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#In N. H, Christie pivots away from gun laws he once backed

MILFORD, N.H. — Gov. Chris Christie made another pivot away from the gun control policies he had advocated as New Jersey governor Friday.

On the heels of the shooting of four U.S. servicemen at a Chatanooga military recruitment center and nine churchgoers in Charleston, S.C. Christie was asked by a questioner at Chapanga's Griddle Grill for his position on assault weapons.

"We need an attorney general who's going to understand that we don't need to pass new laws," said Christie, a 2016 Republican candidate for president. "We have plenty of laws on the books to stop this."

Christie, who as governor had supported New Jersey bills that include an assault weapons sales ban in 2013. said he is now against any new federal gun legislation, which would include restoring an assault weapons ban that originally passed in 1994 and has since expired.

In April 2013, Christie proposed banning the sale of .50 caliber assault weapons in New Jersey. However, when the bill came to his desk in August 2013, Christie vetoed it, because, he said, the Legislature's version would have also required owners of .50 caliber weapons to give them up.

"On the issue of assault weapons, here's the problem," said Christie. "No matter what laws we pass, the folks who commit these crimes are not looking to do a background check at the local gun store to buy their gun. They're buying them from other criminals."

Dylan Roof, who stands accused killing nine people in a South Carolina church last month, purchased his gun from a licensed gun dealer in West Columbia, S.C.

Roof was allowed to purchase the gun because of a federal loophole that allows local gun sales to proceed within three business days absent a red flag from federal authorities. Despite a recent arrest for possession of a controlled substance that would have disqualified him, federal investigators failed to obtain the necessary police report within the time allotted them under the law.

"I believe is that we need a much more vigorous enforcement at the federal level of the gun laws we have on the books," Christie continued. "You know, we have gun laws at the federal level that prevent a lot of this stuff already. And quite frankly, this administration has not been vigorous in enforcing of those laws."

Christie, who in recent weeks has moved to ease regulations of handgun permits, also called for uniformed servicemen at recruiting stations to carry firearms with them.

"No one is better trained" in the use of firearms, Christie argued, saying concerns about public safety were misplaced.

The federal government's now expired assault weapons ban had included a prohibition on the manufacture for civilian use of some semi-automatic firearms defined as "assault weapons," as well as certain ammunition magazines it defined as "large capacity ." New Jersey's ban was enacted in 1990.

In January 2014, Christie's spokesman maintained that "the governor supports New Jersey's already tough gun laws ." As an Assembly candidate in 1995, Christie derided an opponent's plan to repeal the state's ban on semiautomatic weapons as "dangerous."