OCTOBER 5, 2015
(NEW YORK) — New Jersey Governor and 2016 presidential candidate Chris Christie weighed in on the recent mass shooting in Roseburg, Oregon, saying that America should get “tougher” on mental health issues.
“I’m very concerned about the mental health side of this,” Christie told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Sunday on “This Week.” Christie advocates making involuntary commitment easier for doctors to enforce if they fear a mentally ill patient could become violent.
“We don’t want to involuntarily commit them, to put them away,” he said. “We want to protect others and get them the help they need.”
Christie, a former prosecutor, also supports stricter enforcement of gun laws. “There’s lawlessness out there,” he said, pointing to Chicago, a city with tough gun laws and high violent crime rates. “We are not enforcing the law in as aggressive way as we should.”
As governor of New Jersey, which has some of the strictest gun laws and lowest murder rates in the country, Christie has vetoed a gun control bill that would have limited the size of munitions magazines.
“I think it’s about the mental health issue,” Christie said. “I don’t think we’re as aggressive as we should be.”
The governor turned his focus from the campaign trail to his home state in recent days, canceling campaign stops in the New Hampshire. He declared a state of emergency in New Jersey to help residents prepare for Hurricane Joaquin, which so far has spared the state from any major damage.
“We’re lucky we dodged a bullet in New Jersey this time,” Christie said.
https://wbt.com/chris-christie-urges-focus-on-mental-health-after-oregon-mass-shooting/