Chris Christie: I don’t want just gun control, I want violence control

“If all we do is talk about gun control, then we’re missing the point,” Christie explained. “What I’d like to have a real conversation about, and I intend to start very, very soon, is not just about gun control. That’s part of it. But it’s also about violence control.”…

Christie’s reply was fleet-footed and fascinating. First he emphasized that New Jersey already has an assault weapons ban—and reminded the audience that he “said during my time as a prosecutor and my time as governor that I support that.” (This is true, and has gotten him in some trouble with conservatives like Rush Limbaugh.) He added that he “absolutely believe[s] we have to have a continued discussion about gun control,” and that he’s “happy to be part of the conversation.”…

So what is violence control? In part, Christie’s vision involves improved mental-health care system. “The young man who committed that horrific act… he was seriously mentally ill young man,” he said. “And you have to ask yourself, what was he doing not being treated? What was he doing living in a house where his mother legally owned all those weapons? And he had access to them. His mother is dead today because he was not being treated.”

But the governor also fingered video games as a possible focus of his coming violence-control plan.