It’s not true the General Assembly is fixated on guns. Yes, reports on guns ranked first and second this week on the Office of Legislative Research’s most-read list. But number three was a 2006 report on Connecticut’s witch trials and posthumous pardons.

An excerpt:

Connecticut’s witch trials were held in the mid to late 1600’s, between 1647 and 1697. However, no alleged witches were executed after 1662. Although historians cannot say with absolute certainty what gave rise to the witch trials, many believe that fear was the primary caused. The colonists held strong religious beliefs and years of fighting Native Americans, floods, and epidemical sickness may have caused them to look for someone (Satan) to blame for their hardships.

In case you were curious, OLR reports there were no posthumous pardons in Connecticut, though there were in Massachusetts and Virginia. OLR also notes, for reasons unclear, that comedian Lenny Bruce was posthumously pardoned by New York for his obscenity conviction.

Mark is the Capitol Bureau Chief and a co-founder of CT Mirror. He is a frequent contributor to WNPR, a former state politics writer for The Hartford Courant and Journal Inquirer, and contributor for The New York Times.

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