Correction: the Connecticut Lottery mass shooting occurred in 1998. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that the event happened in 1999. (1:12 p.m EST., March 25, 2021)

HARTFORD, Conn. -- After this week's second mass shooting in the U.S., a Connecticut gun-safety group hopes the state takes its current gun laws a step further, and looks to Congress to enact stronger legislation nationally.

Last week in Congress, Connecticut and Maryland lawmakers introduced the Handgun Purchaser Licensing Act, which would set up a federal grant program, to motivate state and local governments to create permit-to-purchase handgun laws.

Jeremy Stein executive director of CT Against Gun Violence, said a 10-year-old state law has curbed gun homicides by 40%, and thinks it's time to expand it to the national level.

"About 50% of the guns used in crimes are coming from states with weak gun laws; states with no universal background checks, that don't have permit-to-purchase laws," Stein asserted. "States that don't have training requirements; that allow homemade 'ghost guns;' unregistered, unlicensed, untraceable guns to be sold."

Last month, the U.S. House passed two bills, House Resolution 8 and House Resolution 1446, to expand background checks on firearm sales.

Stein is unsure if they'll pass, however, since Second-Amendment concerns have been cited in the U.S. Senate for years as reasons not to pass stronger gun laws.

The Connecticut Assembly is considering a bill to strengthen existing law on risk-protection orders or warrants, that could remove firearms from people at risk of harming themselves or others.

Stein noted it includes easing the process to obtain a risk-protection order.

"It's looking to expand who can apply for these types of orders, to make sure that family members, physicians and mental-health providers can also petition a court to get an order, without the necessity of involving law enforcement," Stein explained.

Connecticut's risk-protection order law was the first of its kind in the nation, enacted after the 1998 Connecticut Lottery mass shooting.

Stein added preventing mass shootings remains a top priority, but addressing daily community violence is also at the forefront. His group supports a bill to fund community-based violence-prevention programs.

"Connecticut should follow California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, to form a better overall plan as to how we can finally end gun violence in Connecticut," Stein argued. "And to focus on places like New Haven, Bridgeport, Hartford, Waterbury, where gun violence is most prevalent, and that mostly affects Black and Brown communities."

According to the Center for American Progress, only 10% of Connecticut's population is Black, but more than half of the state's gun-homicide victims are Black.

Both bills are in the Legislature's Public Safety Committee.


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Several pieces of Democrat-backed gun legislation have been heard by Nevada's Senate and Assembly Judiciary Committees but not without opposition from firearms proponents.

Assembly Bill 105 would ban firearms within 100 feet of election sites. Assembly Bill 245 would prohibit anyone younger than 21 from purchasing or possessing a semiautomatic shotgun or assault rifle. And Senate Bill 89 would tighten firearm restrictions for those convicted of hate crimes.

Sen. Julie Pazina, D-Las Vegas, said as the temperature of national discourse increases, it is imperative the measures be passed.

"The consequences of this divisiveness are real and they can't be ignored any longer," Pazina emphasized. "As a Jewish Nevadan, I have witnessed my communities and others like it come under attack simply because of the way we worship."

Pazina noted members of Nevada's LGBTQ+ community as well as ethnic and racial groups have also been targets of attacks. Each year more than 10,000 violent hate crime attacks involve either the use or threatened use of guns in the U.S., according to Giffords, the gun violence prevention organization.

Backers of Assembly Bill 245 said by restricting anyone younger than 21 from being able to purchase or possess a semiautomatic shotgun or assault rifle, suicide rates would decrease. Advocates said it strikes the right balance between the Second Amendment and preventing access to the most dangerous firearms.

Sen. Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, said otherwise.

"You take away this particular category and the people that want to kill themselves will no longer do so?" Hansen asked. "Crazy. Just crazy."

Data shows most of the deadliest mass shootings in the country since 2018 were committed by people younger than 21.

Tanya Schardt, senior counsel and director of state and federal policy for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said most mass shooters younger than 21 bought their firearms legally. She argued there have to be more barriers to prevent tragedies from happening.

"By not doing that, we are creating an environment where all of our children are having to have shooter drills," Schardt stressed. "We're creating an environment where children are scared to go to school, where teachers are scared to be there."


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Nevada's Democratic lawmakers are trying again to advance gun-control legislation, including measures to ban firearms from election sites and prohibit anyone younger than 21 from purchasing or possessing a semiautomatic shotgun or assault rifle.

Asm. Sandra Jauregui, D-Las Vegas, said despite similar efforts falling to vetoes in 2023, it is an issue she will not stop fighting for. For Jauregui it is personal. She is a survivor of the 2017 shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival, which claimed the lives of 60 people.

Gov. Joe Lombardo defended his veto of the polling place gun ban in 2023 because of a ghost gun provision he felt was unconstitutional. Jauregui pointed out this time around, that component isn't there.

"I am hoping that the governor will sign my bill because he has even said in interviews that he agrees election sites are sensitive locations," Jauregui pointed out. "This is a stand-alone, clean bill now that only impacts election sites. And I don't know anyone who doesn't believe that everyone should exercise their most fundamental right to vote without fear of intimidation."

Jauregui added she hopes her Republican colleagues can get on board. In 2023, both of her bills passed on party lines. She called the pieces of legislation common sense and believes the issue should be nonpartisan.

Jauregui noted in Nevada, one has to be 21 years old to purchase a handgun, therefore it therefore makes no sense when someone turns 18 they can buy a semiautomatic firearm. Assembly Bill 245 would seek to change it.

"We know that the day the Uvalde shooter turned 18, the day he turned 18, he walked into a firearms dealer and he bought two semiautomatic firearms that he then used to go into Robb Elementary School and create that horrible incident that so many families are struggling to get through now," Jauregui recounted.

Jauregui emphasized while Lombardo was not present the night of the shooting on October 1, 2017, she said she knows he was witness to the carnage that happened afterward as sheriff.

"I hope that when these bills make it to his desk, he remembers the devastation that guns cause to our community and that he finds it in himself to stand up to the gun lobby and to protect Nevadans," Jauregui concluded.


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Support for Governor Tony Evers's first statewide Office of Violence Prevention is gaining momentum, as some safety experts and advocates say they're hopeful it'll save lives. Reggie Moore heads community safety at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He formerly led Milwaukee's violence prevention office during a critical period following a 70-percent increase in homicides in 2015. He believes people understand the intent and potential for offices like these.

"The fact that cities are getting smarter on crime and the impact that these types of interventions can have in addressing violence before it happens, I think is something that people understand that we should be doing."

He says that starts with a public health approach to preventing gun violence. It's that approach, he adds, that contributed to Milwaukee's four-year decline in homicides and nonfatal shootings beginning in 2016. He adds that was one of the biggest declines in the country at the time.

While violence prevention offices are not new, larger investments in them are. Moore says in 2016, when he started leading the Milwaukee office, few existed. Now, he says there are more than seventy across the country. Moore says the historic levels of federal investments is promising, since law enforcement can't and shouldn't do this work alone.


"For hundreds of years the country has taken a criminal justice approach solely to this issue, but understanding the fact that this is also a public health crisis, and hearing the governor declare this the year of the kid, I think it's timely given the fact that since 2020 gun violence has become the leading cause of death of children."

Earlier this month, Governor Evers announced he's directing 10-million dollars to the Office of Violence Prevention. The funds are from the American Rescue Plan Act and will provide grants to school districts, law enforcement agencies and nonprofits to help reduce gun violence. It's still unclear whether the Trump administration will impact federal funds for programs like these.





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