In a reversal, Newtown agrees to review open gun-carry ban
“The case that domestic terrorism is rising, and Newtown could be vulnerable to extremism and armed intimidation as we have faced before is not hyperbole.”
Po Murray, chairwoman of the Newtown Action Alliance
NEWTOWN — A divided lawmaking body that blocked a proposed ban on carrying guns in Newtown just two months ago has reversed its decision and sent a simplified version of the ban to a research committee for formal review.
The reversal by Newtown’s Legislative Council to consider a proposed ban on carrying guns openly on town property was prompted by testimony from the town attorney that such an ordinance was not preempted by state statute, and by implications of the deadly Capitol riot on Jan. 6, an activist said.
“After the insurrection, we sent (the Legislative Council) a petition signed by 200 residents including some of the families who lost their children in the Sandy Hook tragedy,” said Po Murray, chairwoman of
the homegrown, nonprofit Newtown Action Alliance, who is pressing for the ban. “The case that domestic terrorism is rising, and Newtown could be vulnerable to extremism and armed intimidation as we have faced before is not hyperbole.”
The reversal is good news for ban supporters, who argue that armed counter-protestors have intimidated Newtown Action Alliance demonstrators, some of whom are teenagers who lived through the 2012 shooting of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook School.
Other supporters of the ban say
that while open carrying of firearms is indeed permitted across the state, Newtown is not like any other place in the state, because of what happened here eight years ago.
“I would point out that we are currently contemplating the placement of a permanent memorial to honor and remember the twentysix who died because of a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School,” said Sandy Hook resident James Ritchie in a letter to the Legislative Council. “Do we really want to be subject to the possibility of witnessing persons openly carrying weapons on the site of this memorial?”
The 7-to-5 vote by the Democrat-controlled Legislative Council to refer the proposed ban for formal
review was a setback to Second Amendment supporters such as Holly Sullivan, the Southburybased president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, and the five Republicans on the council who worry that passing a ban would only invite a lawsuit.
Ryan Knapp, a Republican on the Legislative Council and the chairman of the Ordinance Committee that is formally reviewing the open-carry ban, said the law would create “a perverse incentive” for outside groups on both sides of the gun-policy debate to use Newtown as a legal battleground.
“Because of the tragic infamy of Newtown with respect to what happened in 2012, if this ordinance becomes law, the special interests will become involved,” Knapp said. “As a matter of principle, I think the state should provide the clarity on this issue rather than making the taxpayers and residents of Newtown shoulder the financial and emotional burden of a prolonged legal battle.”
Murray cautioned against making too much of an impending legal battle, saying firearm bans have been enacted in parks and school grounds without being challenged in Bethel, Bridgeport, Brookfield, Danbury, Darien, Greenwich, Monroe, Norwalk, Redding, Ridgefield and Stamford.
Should a challenge come, Murray said, the Manhattan law firm Hogan Lovells has committed to defend the town without charge.
A Jan. 15 letter to Legislative Council Chairman Paul Lundquist from Hogan Lovells partner Dennis Tracey III confirmed as much. “Hogan Lovells has extensive experience representing governments in connection with firearm regulation and would be happy to bring that experience to bear on behalf of Newtown on a pro bono basis,” Tracey wrote.
This marks the second time since the Sandy Hook shooting that Newtown has considered a local gun ban.
“Frankly, I think it’s time we send a message to Newtown, to Connecticut and to America that Newtown takes gun safety very seriously,” Murray said.