skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Sunday, November 24, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Trump suffers first defeat but as always doubles down for the next fight; From Ohio to Azerbaijan: How COP29 could shape local farming; Funding boosts 'green' projects in Meadville, PA; VA apprenticeships bridge skills gaps, offer career stability.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Trump has a new pick for Attorney General, his incoming "border czar" warns local Democratic officials not to impede mass deportation, and the House passes legislation that could target any nonprofit group accused of supporting terrorism.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The CDC has a new plan to improve the health of rural Americans, updated data could better prepare folks for flash floods like those that devastated Appalachia, and Native American Tribes could play a key role in the nation's energy future.

State, Congress Feel New Urgency for Stronger Gun Laws

play audio
Play

Thursday, March 25, 2021   

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.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The smoking rate among adults in Maryland is 9.6%, much lower than the national average of 12.9%. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A new report on lung cancer by the American Lung Association showed Maryland has quite a bit of room to improve diagnoses and treatment but experts sa…


Social Issues

play sound

La Niña is bringing a cooler, wetter winter to Oregon and likely driving up heating bills as systems work harder. This is the third year of …

Environment

play sound

The number of pedestrians and bicyclists killed on roadways in the U.S. has nearly doubled in the past 12 years and a New Mexico researcher wants to …


Social Issues

play sound

CLARIFICATION: We updated language to clarify the timing for when the study's authors began tracking certain outcome measures for children within the …

Health and Wellness

play sound

By Kyla Russell for WISH-TV.Broadcast version by Joe Ulery for Indiana News Service reporting for the WISH-TV-Free Press Indiana-Public News Service C…

Social Issues

play sound

A recent study from Florida Atlantic University highlights a concerning rise in alcohol-related deaths across the United States, with mortality rates …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021