New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Sunday called President Barack Obama "a petulant child" for using executive action to curb gun violence.

"The American people have rejected his agenda by turning both the House and the Senate over to the Republicans , and going from 21 governors when he came into office, to 31 Republican governors now. Now this president wants to act as if he is a king, as if he is a dictator," Christie told Fox News ' Chris Wallace.

Amid several mass shootings in recent months, Obama is preparing to take executive action to expand background checks, according to White House officials. On Sunday , CNN announced that Obama would participate in a live town hall on the issue, which will air on the network on Thursday.

In response, Christie warned that whatever measures Obama proposes "will be rejected by the courts" and pledged that if he were elected president, he would take executive action to reverse Obama's move.

The 2016 GOP presidential hopeful has come under scrutiny for walking a fine line on gun laws. As governor of a relatively liberal state, he authorized stricter gun regulations -- in 2013 , he signed 10 gun control measures into law and said that gun control could help prevent gun violence. Earlier in his career, he supported an assault weapons ban.