Legislators in Connecticut have come up with a bipartisan deal for (what some are calling) the toughest gun control laws in the country. Spurred by the shootings in Newtown last December, the Connecticut deal includes a ban on new high-capacity ammunition magazines like the ones used in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 children and six educators dead. There are also new registration requirements for existing magazines that carry 10 or more bullets, something of a disappointment for some family members of Newtown victims who wanted an outright ban on the possession of all high-capacity magazines and traveled to the state Capitol on Monday to ask lawmakers for it.
The deal is “the most comprehensive package in the country because of its breadth,” stated Senate Minority leader John McKinney
The package also creates what lawmakers said is the nation's first statewide dangerous weapon offender registry, creates a new " eligibility certificate," would be needed to purchase any rifles, shotguns and ammunition. To get the certificate a buyer would need to be fingerprinted, take a firearms training course and undergo immediate universal background checks, as well as involuntary-commitment or voluntary-admission hospital check. It also extends the state's assault weapons ban to 100 new types of firearms and requires that a weapon have only one of several features in order to be banned.
A vote on the new legislation is expected Wednesday in the General Assembly, where Democrats control both chambers, making passage all but assured, according to an AP report.
"Democrats and Republicans were able to come to an agreement on a strong, comprehensive bill," said Senate President Donald E. Williams Jr., a Democrat from Brooklyn, who called the proposed legislation the strongest, most comprehensive bill in the country. "That is a message that should resound in 49 other states and in Washington, D.C. And the message is: We can get it done here and they should get it done in their respective states and nationally in Congress."
The massacre re-ignited the gun debate in the country and led to calls for increased gun control legislation on the federal and state levels. While some other states, including neighboring New York, have strengthened their gun laws, momentum has stalled in Congress.
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