Variant cools hopes for carefree summer
Rising cases curb optimism as many feel cautious mindset returning
I“This is a time for us to be proud of where we are on the vaccination side but at the same time to be cautious, especially for those who are not vaccinated.”
— Dr. Ajay Kumar, chief clinical officer at Hartford HealthCare
n late May, all signs pointed toward a summer in Connecticut relatively short on COVID-19 worry, with high rates of vaccination and low rates of transmission. The state’s coronavirus numbers were low and dropping by the day. Its vaccination effort had slowed but was still going strong. Gov. Ned Lamont was encouraging residents to “get out of the damn house” and return to traveling and eating out. Experts said Connecticut was likely in the clear, at least until fall.
“I think that we’re in as good of a place as we can be given all the circumstances,” former FDA
Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said at a May 27 press conference with Lamont. “I do think that this is an interim victory.”
But the state is now facing yet another COVID-19 spike because of the delta variant, which now represents more than two-thirds of Connecticut’s coronavirus cases. Cases have increased in recent weeks, and hospitalizations have begun to tick upward as well, albeit slowly. In places as near as Cape Cod, officials are again recommending that vaccinated people wear masks indoors in public.
Suddenly, the dream of a summer light on COVID-19 concerns is in jeopardy.
Jenny, a 44-year-old stayat-home mother, bought her first gun last year. A victim of domestic abuse, she said she was motivated by concerns about her personal safety. (The Courant does not identify survivors of domestic violence without their permission.)
“I had run into my ex-husband while I was jogging, and after that I made the decision that I needed to carry,” she said.
The uncertainty of life during the pandemic also played a role.
“It was such an unpredictable time, and people were under a lot of stress,” she said. “I realized I was responsible for my own self-defense.”
Since buying her gun, she has begun spending time at the range to work on her shooting skills. In the process, she discovered a new hobby.
“I just love going shooting,” she said. “I have the confidence that I can hit my target.”
Pizzi said self-defense is the main reason his customers are buying guns.
“People are starting to realize they’re their own first responders,” he said. “With all the anti-police sentiment that’s going around right now, we’re selling a lot of concealed-carry handguns. We sell a lot of home-defense handguns and shotguns.”
Indeed, fear of crime is driving an appetite for more guns, Sullivan said.
“Americans across the board, whether they’re firsttime gun owners or longtime gun owners, feel more of a need to defend themselves and their families than they have in the past,” she said. “That is the cultural climate, the political climate and the reality that we’re in.”
Gun sales often increase after an election, and 2020 was no different. Democrat Joe Biden’s pledge to address rising gun violence prompted some purchases, Pizzi said.
“They’re worried about what may or may not be available for them to purchase and what’s going to be illegal,” Pizzi said.
Gun violence prevention activists dispute that narrative.
“People have an irrational fear that guns will somehow disappear overnight, just like they thought would happen in the Obama administration,” said Jeremy Stein, executive director of CT Against Gun Violence, an advocacy group.
“That didn’t happen then, and it’s not going to happen now in the Biden administration. We are not going to see a repeal of the Second Amendment.
“A lot of this buying is fear driven: fear of the pandemic, fear of the unknown, fear of this idea that somehow guns will not be available or ammunition will not be available.”
More guns do not enhance public safety, Stein said. In fact, he said, research shows that the opposite is true.
“Guns lead to increased harms in homes, increased incidence of gun crimes and increased incidents of accidental death, suicide and domestic violence,” Stein said.
Amid the accelerating sales, the state police firearms registration system has been beset by delays.
Last week, the Connecticut Citizens Defense League filed a lawsuit over the long lag times in the process by which new buyers of guns and ammunition are fingerprinted and issued permits. (Without permits, buyers cannot make purchases and licensed dealers cannot make sales.)
The group sued the state last year after Gov. Ned Lamont allowed state and local police to stop fingerprinting applicants for gun permits during the coronavirus pandemic, a requirement for the issuance of permits. A federal judge said gun ownership is a fundamental right and ordered the police to resume fingerprinting, but the gun rights group, claiming that delays are continuing, wants the court to revisit the issue.
Brian Foley, a spokesman for the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, said the agency is implementing new software, bringing on new staff and adding phone lines to expedite the process.
“We inherited a paper system; we’re moving to an electronic system,” Foley said. “We understand the frustration with how long it was taking during the transitional period.”
The timing of the move to a new system happened to coincide with the dramatic increase in gun sales, he said.
“There was no way for us to predict there would be this radical of a surge in gun permits and transactions looking at previous years,” Foley said.