Murphy signs ‘smart gun’ bill, calls for more gun control

Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law a smart gun bill requiring every New Jersey gun dealer to offer a personalized handgun model which can only be fired by its designated owner. There’s currently no commercially viable option on the United States market, but Murphy told gun control advocates crowding a hot high school library that the law aims to change that.

“Our action today will help speed the development and marketability of these personalized — and the word folks use now, personalized — firearms. Guns that can be only fired by their rightful and licensed owner, everybody get that? That’s a really important point. Our law will require firearms dealers to offer at least one smart gun for sale once that gun has been approved for sale by a newly-created commission,” Murphy said.

The smart gun law replaces a 2002 version that proved unworkable. A recent Johns Hopkins poll of gun owners reported 79 percent agreed that licensed dealers should sell both traditional and smart guns. But almost the same number, 70 percent, are concerned the technology wouldn’t work when needed. Opponents of the new law feel the state shouldn’t interfere.