Override Of NJ Gun Control Bill Falls 3 Votes Short In Assembly

By David Madden

TRENTON, N.J., (CBS) -- The New Jersey Assembly has failed to override Governor Chris Christie's conditional veto of a gun control bill, but it is clear the issue is not going away.

That bill would require a mentally ill person who wants to clear their health record so they can buy a gun to inform law enforcement and doctors first, so they can chime in with a court deciding on the request. Police and the courts asked for the bill months ago and it passed unanimously through both legislative houses before Christie vetoed the measure this summer.

The state senate in October overrode the veto with the help of three Republicans.

In the Assembly, 54 votes were needed to override. They got 51, with 17 no's and 11 abstentions.

Trenton Democrat Reed Gusciora harkened to Wednesday's carnage in California. "I didn't come here for a moment of silence. I came here for a moment of action. And I think that we owe it to the 14 people that were killed...that we owe them a moment of action."

The Assembly did observe a moment of silence for the victims of the San Bernardino massacre later in the session.

Republicans arguing against the Governor's conditional veto to uncover a major flaw in the original measure. "The reality is that there is a loophole as big as a Mack truck in the bill," according to Wayne Assemblyman Scott Rumana, "and to not acknowledge that, I think, we're doing a disservice to the citizens of our state."

That loophole? The patient simply doesn't disclose the reason for seeking the expungement. Once approved, they argued, the patient could obtain the weapon with no problem. Democrats insisted that issue could be addressed later.

Assembly leaders took a procedural move before the vote was certified by pulling the bill. That, in effect, keep the override bid in play in the Assembly. Speaker Vincent Prieto, in a statement, vowed to "put this bill back up again and again".