Gun-control advocates in Connecticut on Saturday exulted in the passage of a slate of strong measures headed for the governor’s desk after an all-night Senate session and early morning vote.
The landmark bill is designed to “reduce gun violence, stop mass shootings, and prevent firearm accidents and suicides,” Connecticut Gov. Ed Lamont said in a statement. It marks the state’s most wide-ranging gun legislation since the laws that passed after the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012.
The bill expands the state’s existing assault weapons ban to include more such weapons, tightens penalties for possession of large-capacity magazines, and ties domestic violence offenses to ineligibility for gun ownership. Open carry will be prohibited in public and concealed carry will require a permit.
The legislation also limits the number of handguns that any one person can buy to three during a 30-day period, or six for instructors.
Stricter rules on storage, assault weapons and ghost guns are some of the other provisions, as is a mechanism to make gun dealers more accountable if they violate sale guardrails.
In addition, any private citizen buying body armor must have a pistol permit or a certificate demonstrating eligibility.
The Senate passed the legislation, House Bill 6667, in a 24-11 vote, after the House approved the bill 96-51 on May 25.
“While I firmly believe that our country needs stronger laws at the federal level to prevent gun violence, the inaction by Congress requires each individual state to act,” Governor Lamont said, adding that Connecticut’s new legislation will “modernize our firearm safety laws in a smart and strategic way to help prevent tragedy from happening.”
Despite complaints from Republican lawmakers, Lamont added that the majority of Connecticut residents support the bill “because they want to live in a community that has commonsense measures that encourage gun safety and prevent harm from impacting our neighborhoods and homes.”
Gun-control advocates concurred, saying the legislation “will protect our communities by holding bad actors in the gun industry accountable, requiring best practices for gun owners, and ensuring guns are not openly carried in our neighborhoods,” said Erin Barthel, a volunteer with the Connecticut chapter of Moms Demand Action.