Blue state Republicans can't even take credit for their states' low murder rates now
by digby
I don't know why I'm even bothering talking about anything he says, but he's still a Governor and he seems to be creeping up in the polls a bit in New Hampshire so you never know. I've always wondered if he wasn't the natural heir to the Trump constituency --- loudmouthed, jerks sitting at the end of the bar with a knee-jerk opinion about everything and an insult for everyone.
But anyway, here's the latest. He can't even take credit for being Governor of a state with a relatively low crime rate because it has some tough gun regulations which are apparently just this side of Satan worship to today's GOP. From TBOGG at Raw Story:
Attempting to keep his 2016 presidential hopes alive, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) refused to wade into the problem of easy access to guns, saying tough gun laws in his state haven’t had a major impact on its low murder rate.
Asked by This Week host George Stephanopolous to talk about the gun debate in the wake of the Oregon shooting that claimed nine lives, Christie instead wanted to talk about mental health issues.
“You just heard Donald Trump say, you know, sometimes people fall through the cracks. And he also questioned whether tough gun laws make a difference,” Stephanopolous said. “But look at your state. It has some of the toughest gun laws and one of the lowest murder rates. Isn’t there a correlation?”
Christie immediately dodged the question, saying mental health issues are a greater concern.
“I don’t — George, I don’t think there is. But I’ll tell you this, I’m very concerned about the mental health side of this and I put forward a proposal to the legislature last year and then again just about seven or eight weeks ago in response to a bill they sent saying, let’s do some tough things on mental health,” Christie replied. “Let’s make involuntary commitment of people who speak violently easier for doctors.”
Christie continued on, dismissing tough gun laws by invoking the murder rates in Chicago which also has restrictive gun laws.
How embarrassing. As Tbogg points out, all those guns in Chicago are coming from outside the city, many of them from one particular gun shop in the Chicago suburbs.
In places where there are much stricter gun laws nationally you see a different picture:
If what all these Republicans are saying is true, that the problem isn't guns it's mental illness, perhaps we need to start asking ourselves why we have such a humongous mental illness problem in this country.
Or maybe these fools could just sober up and admit that it's the guns. There are people with mental and emotional problems everywhere. And lord knows we could do a better job of getting those people the medical care they need. But these other countries have not cured mental illness. There are plenty of people with those problems who are untreated. They just regulate the guns. It's really that simple.
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