New Jersey handgun permits increased by 67 percent through June this year compared to the same period in 2012, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The state issued 59,120 permits to purchase handguns in the first six months of 2013, according to data provided to the Journal by state police. For that same period in 2012, 35,425 permits were issued, and a total of 64,107 were issued for the entire year.
New Jersey, which already had some of the strictest gun laws in the country, has adopted 11 new gun control measures since the Newtown, Conn. elementary school shooting. Gov. Chris Christie (R) vetoed three other measures last month that would have banned sales of .50-caliber rifles, altered the way the state issued firearm-identification cards and established a training safety course for gun owners, according to the Journal.
