XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.politics.socialist.nazi, alt.connecticut   
   XPost: alt.politics.republicans, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: bankrupt@connecticut.gov   
      
   The Connecticut House of Representatives on Thursday passed the state's   
   most wide-ranging gun control package since the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary   
   School shooting. It cleared the chamber in a 96-51 vote.   
      
   The bill would ban open carry, limit the number of guns that can be   
   purchased at once, and further restrict sales of semiautomatic weapons to   
   persons under 21.   
      
   "This bill, like all the bills like it, are slow tyranny," Republican   
   state Rep. Doug Dubitsky said of the package. "And thankfully, tyranny   
   cannot outrun the Constitution."   
      
   Connecticut lawmakers on Thursday advanced the most wide-ranging package   
   of gun safety measures since the legislation passed after the 2012 Sandy   
   Hook school massacre, with proponents noting the state is not "recklessly   
   retreating" from regulating guns like other states.   
      
   The bill, which cleared the Democratic controlled House of Representatives   
   on a 96-51 vote, bars openly carrying firearms, among other changes. It   
   comes almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court said Americans have a   
   right to carry firearms in public for self-defense. That is in addition to   
   other recent court actions favoring gun owners. It also comes as   
   Republican-controlled states are loosening guns laws amid a record-setting   
   pace for mass killings in the United States.   
      
   "As there continues to be mass shooting after mass shooting in our nation,   
   we look at the other states that are running away from gun restrictions   
   that are, I would say, recklessly retreating from gun restrictions," said   
   Rep. Steve Stafstrom, the Democratic co-chairman of the General Assembly's   
   Judiciary Committee. "In Connecticut, we’re not doing that. We’re going to   
   continue to lead."   
      
   SANDY HOOK 10 YEARS LATER: BIDEN SAYS US SHOULD HAVE 'SOCIETAL GUILT' OVER   
   GUN VIOLENCE   
      
   Nearly half the states have passed legislation addressing guns or school   
   safety this year, but the division among states continues to widen.   
   Democratic-led states have enacted new laws to restrict semi-automatic   
   weapons and expand background checks and waiting periods to buy guns.   
   Republican-led states have backed the right to carry concealed guns   
   without permits or for trained staff to bring guns to school.   
      
   The bill now needs approval by the Democratic controlled Senate before   
   this year's legislative session ends June 7. Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont,   
   who proposed many of the initiatives, praised Thursday's vote and said he   
   plans to sign the bill into law.   
      
   Lamont said new legislation is needed since Sandy Hook, noting the "world   
   has changed," especially with the advent of untraceable ghost guns. This   
   latest bill requires the registration of ghost guns manufactured prior to   
   2019, the year Connecticut lawmakers voted to ban them, yet grandfathered   
   existing weapons. The proposal also bars the possession of ghost guns that   
   are neither serialized nor registered.   
      
   "All these plastic ghost guns, they are flooding our streets," Lamont told   
   reporters before the debate. "We see what used to be settled with a fist   
   are now settled with a plastic ghost gun."   
      
   But some Republican lawmakers voiced frustration with having to vote on   
   another gun control bill, arguing majority Democrats are again targeting   
   law-abiding gun owners and not the criminals committing most of the gun   
   violence in Connecticut.   
      
   GOP Rep. Cara Pavalock D’Amato, who wore a white T-shirt with images of   
   handguns and the words "Love guns" under her blazer, said during the   
   debate that this latest proposal continues the state's pattern of   
   "chipping away" at the rights of legal gun owners. At four-foot-10-inches   
   tall, the legislator said she personally relies on a gun to keep herself   
   and her son safe.   
      
   "Having a firearm is my only shot if somebody is coming at me," she said.   
      
   Republican Rep. Doug Dubitsky, an attorney, predicted this latest proposal   
   will ultimately be overturned by the courts for violating both the U.S.   
   and Connecticut constitutions.   
      
   "Courts are stepping in, finally," he said during Thursday's sometimes   
   emotional debate. "This bill, like all the bills like it, are slow   
   tyranny. And thankfully, tyranny cannot outrun the Constitution."   
      
   CT GOV. LAMONT PROPOSES OPEN CARRY BAN, OTHER GUN RESTRICTIONS   
      
   Stafstrom acknowledged last year's U.S. Supreme Court ruling "hangs large   
   over everything" by limiting states' ability to impose certain   
   restrictions on guns.   
      
   "But things are going to have to track through," said Stafstrom, adding   
   how there's "nothing in this bill that prohibits somebody from carrying a   
   firearm outside their home." He said it's still "to be determined" whether   
   age limits on certain assault rifles will be overturned.   
      
   Connecticut's bill would bar the sale, delivery and transfer of more than   
   three handguns to an individual during a 30-day period. It also would   
   expand the current prohibition on sales to people under 21 of   
   semiautomatic rifles with the capacity of greater than five rounds to   
   include private sales; expand the state's current assault weapon ban to   
   include other weapons; impose tougher penalties for possession of large-   
   capacity magazines; and impose new safe-storage rules.   
      
   The bill also creates dedicated gun dockets in the courts in major   
   Connecticut cities; requires someone to obtain a pistol permit or   
   eligibility certificate to purchase body armor; increases the penalty for   
   failing to report a lost firearm; and increases the number of family   
   violence crimes committed that can disqualify someone from obtaining a   
   gun, among other provisions.   
      
   https://www.foxnews.com/politics/connecticut-house-passes-largest-gun-   
   control-package-sandy-hook   
      
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