Where gun rights groups in CT stand on legislative proposals
Connecticut gun rights organizations have expressed “grief ” over the murders of 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
“The past 24 hours or so has brought many Americans to a place of tremendous sadness we all hoped we would never see again,” said Holly Sullivan, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, an organization “dedicated to protecting the unalienable right of all citizens to keep and bear arms,” according to its website.
Similarly, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, based in Newtown, said it “shares in the grief over the senseless murders of innocent victims in Uvalde, Texas.”
“Such wanton disregard for human life is beyond words or comprehension,” the organization said in a prepared statement. “It is impossible to rationalize the irrational acts of a depraved individual who would harm innocent children and the schoolteachers who care for them. We continue to pray for the victims and their families.”
Where the organizations differed was in response to proposed gun control legislation.
Saying the “investigation is still unraveling,” Sullivan did not advocate for any legislation that would place make it more difficult to obtain firearms. CCDL claims on its website to be comprised of more than 40,000 members.
“This is not the time to push a political narrative [in] any direction but instead a time to share sincerest empathy for those enduring unfathomable loss,” Sullivan said in a prepared statement. “No words fully capture our most heartfelt condolences for all suffering from this inexcusable atrocity.”
NSSF, however, said it has “long advocated — and will continue to advocate — for real solutions to prevent unauthorized access to firearms by criminals, the dangerously mentally ill, children and others who cannot be trusted to handle firearms in a safe and responsible manner.”
Mark Oliva, NSSF spokesman, said the organization worked directly with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, to develop a law that improves background checks to include all disqualifying mental health records into the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
“We want the background check system to work the way it's intended,” Oliva said.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said during a news conference this week that
bipartisan talks were ongoing on potential legislation to further beef up background checks, create national safe storage laws and a federal red flag law, on which he said he's worked for “years” with Sen Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
“The red flag statute has attracted growing interest,” Blumenthal said. “I've been working on it for years, as I mentioned, with Sen. Graham who has been pretty steadfast in his interest as well.”
Connecticut enacted the nation's firsteven red flag law after the 1998 Lottery shooting that left five people dead, including the gunman. Also known as a “risk warrant” or a “risk protection order,” the law created a legal procedure through which guns may be temporarily taken away from a person who police or family believe may pose a danger to themselves or others.
Olivaw said NSSF is in favor of such a law, provided it includes due process.
“We support red flag laws as long as there are due process considerations that are taken into account,” he said.
Blumenthal said due process provisions might make red flag laws more palatable to his Republican colleagues.
“There is a court order that can be challenged, but there is due process involved in that order. There has to be evidence presented by law enforcement,” he said. “One point that I think is very attractive to my colleagues is that many of these court orders condition return of the firearm on that person going to some kind of counseling or therapy, some kind of mental health care.”
Olivaw agreed that due process provisions might make a federal red flag law possible.
“As long as there is due process, that is something that many members of congress on both sides of the aisle would take a very close look at,” he said.