What happened to Murphy's iron pipeline 'name and shame' campaign?

From: POLITICO New Jersey Playbook - Tuesday Nov 14,2023 11:55 am

Nov 14, 2023

Good Tuesday morning! Please behave if you’re headed to the League.

A couple weeks ago I was in the shower and thought: “Remember when Gov. Murphy said he would ‘name and shame’ states where most of the crime guns recovered in New Jersey originate?” (Yes, this is exactly how my internal dialogue sounds.)

It was in April 2018, just three months after he took office, that Murphy pledged to release the quarterly list.

My hunch was that the governor didn’t follow through. And while his administration did release at least one report shortly after that announcement that showed 77 percent of the guns originating from other states — the biggest supplier of which was Pennsylvania — at some point, it stopped.

Now, you can find monthly reports that list the guns’ calibers, manufacturers, etc., but not where they came from. Not from the state, anyway.

This information does exist, just as it did before Murphy made that announcement. The ATF releases a report annually that includes it. But it’s not quarterly, and doesn’t have the same political resonance of New Jersey calling out its neighbors.

So when and why did New Jersey stop? Nobody from the state has answered that question on the record. Anyway, I’ll let this be another reminder to myself to check in on announced state government policies long after they’ve faded from the news cycle.

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