The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Moving to curb violence in state
Bill signing emphasizes commitment
Gov. Ned Lamont marked Connecticut’s standing as a national gun-safety leader Tuesday at a ceremonial bill signing for two laws — one that tightens the state’s “red flag” gun seizure law and another that enables
Medicaid spending for violence prevention workers.
Connecticut was the first in the nation to adopt a red flag law, in 1999, and is the first, or among the first, to allow Medicaid spending for certified violence pre
vention workers.
The event unfolded as the state grapples with a recent spate of juvenile crime, mainly involving car thefts, that has at times become deadly.
Lamont, a moderate Democrat who promised to be a criminal justice reformer, said he prefers intervention over incarceration — “get to these kids early, give them better opportunities, get them off the street where mischief can take place.”
The site of Tuesday’s bill signing was the nonprofit Hartford Communities That Care, which will benefit from a new law making Connecticut the first state in the nation to provide Medicaid reimbursement for violence prevention services.
The law enables Medicaid funding to cover the cost of medical treatment in several kinds of incidents. That includes someone injured due to an act of community violence or a person who was referred by a health care provider or social services provider to receive services from a certified violence prevention professional because the person is at a higher risk of retaliation.
Andrew Woods, executive director of Hartford Communities That Care, said there’s only a few dozen violence prevention professionals in Connecticut. They are based in Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven, which have been hardest hit by the recent increase in gun violence, a national trend, and where young Black men are far more likely to be victims of that violence.
While violence prevention workers have existed as a profession for several decades, they have “never been given the honor of really being seen as healthcare professionals,” said Fatima Loren Dreier, executive director of the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention, which advocated for violence prevention services to be reimbursable through Medicaid.
Due to a change under the Biden administration, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued guidance to state Medicaid offices this spring letting them know that these services are now an allowable Medicaid expense and will be reimbursed by federal government, Dreier said.
Woods said this new source of revenue will be invaluable to community-based non-profits like his which are constantly battling ebbs and flows in funding.
His front-line staff work around the clock, responding to hospitals following shootings and providing street-level intervention. They connect victims and their families with mental health and medical care, employment training and other support services. They also work to identify the root causes of the violence in hopes of diffusing it and in turn leading victims to themselves become interveners.
While the legislation will support this work, which studies show is effective in reducing violence, the legislation has its limits, advocates said.
“This issue is much deeper than just passing laws,” said Democratic state Sen. Doug McCrory, D-Hartford, who lives in the city’s North End, where he grew up.
“When it’s easier for a child in this community to get a gun as opposed to fresh a head of lettuce, c’mon now you know what’s going to happen,” McCrory said. “If we don’t deal with poverty and redlining, you can read every book in the world, they’ll tell you this is not going to stop.”
A large crowd at Tuesday’s press conference also celebrated Connecticut strengthening its red flag law, which first went into effect in 1999 following the mass shooting at the Connecticut Lottery Corp. offices in Newington.
The update makes it easier for law enforcement to obtain court orders and seize firearms as well as other deadly weapons from people whose family members or medical professionals fear could harm themselves or others.
Under current law, if someone’s firearm is ordered removed from them, once a year is up, the weapon is automatically returned to the owner. The new law creates a petition process to get the firearm back.
Jeremy Stein, executive director of Connecticut Against Gun Violence, said the law will help prevent the leading cause of gun deaths: suicides.
“This is something very personal to me. My uncle, David Stein killed himself with a firearm and had this law been around when he was in crisis, my uncle may still be alive today,” Stein said.