July 26, 2015
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie did not take kindly to a voter who pondered whether the Republican would be like Michael Bloomberg on gun rights if elected president.
Speaking at a town hall event in Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday, Christie was asked about his record on guns by an attendee.
The man, citing state government groups in Iowa and across the country who he says claim Christie is anti-gun, asked the candidate how he was any different than the New York City mayor who started a political organization favoring gun control.
Christie claimed he had been very pro-gun during his tenure as governor, and verbally sparred with the man after he continued to question his record on the issue. Watch the exchange below:
During the conversation, Christie claims that New Jersey's "difficult" guns laws were signed into law before he became governor.
The man asked him about Brian Fletcher, a North Carolina resident who was assisting storm relief efforts in June in Mercer County. Fletcher told police he was carrying a handgun in his vehicle, which is complicit with North Carolina's laws.
However, New Jersey's laws require that guns be unloaded and in the trunk when being carried in a car, and Fletcher was hit with a felony charge.
Christie acted slightly baffled by the reference, noting that Fletcher's case was under consideration and claiming he had already pardoned three people in the state for gun charges.
In April, Christie pardoned a Philadelphia woman who faced gun charges after a traffic stop in 2013 when officers did not recognize her concealed-carry permit and arrested her.
"You've got a point of view," Christie says to the man, after being challenged further on the issue. "But your point of view is dead wrong."
Christie continued by asking the man to get his facts straight, and cited several vetoes to gun-control measures, bills that reached his desk because of a Democratically-controlled legislature, he said.
According to the latest Real Clear Politics poll average, Christie has about 2.8 percent of potential Republican voters. That puts him in ninth place among the declared candidates, which would qualify him for the first primary debate on Fox News, as the top 10 candidates are allowed to participate.
