Wedged between the religious observances of Passover and Good Friday is a two-day window next week for the Connecticut General Assembly to adopt bipartisan gun-violence legislation in response to the Sandy Hook massacre.
If legislation is not ready for action next Wednesday and Thursday, closure on an all-consuming issue that legislators once pledged to resolve in February, and then in March, will have to wait for April.
Autumn was fading to winter when Adam Lanza killed 26 children and women at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Dec. 14. It was the sixth night of Hanukkah, not far from Christmas and New Year.
Spring arrives Wednesday. The Yankees open at home Monday against the Red Sox.
Democratic and Republican legislative leaders resumed talks Tuesday afternoon on the specifics of what they say would be sweeping new legislation to restrict the sale of semiautomatic weapons and large-capacity magazines.
By early evening, they concluded another day of talks with a spokesman issuing the same update as nearly every day last week: “It was productive, and they plan to meet again tomorrow.”
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said he took a phone call Monday from the father of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, one of the 20 first-graders who died at Sandy Hook. A staffer says he hears periodically from other parents.
“Doing it right is much more important than doing it quickly,” Malloy said.
Malloy was asked during a panel discussion on gun violence, streamed live on the web from Washington, D.C., if he was optimistic that Connecticut would manage a bipartisan response.
“I’m hopeful,” Malloy said. “Certainly, I don’t want it to be watered down. Bipartisanship is a wonderful thing, as long as it’s a meaningful thing.”
Malloy wants a ban on the sale and possession of ammo magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. Legislators are certain to ban the sale of large-capacity magazines, but it is unclear if possession also would be banned.
Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn, said nothing has been resolved.
“There is not agreement on any particular item until there is an agreement on all the items,” Williams said.
Williams said the goal is to finish in time for a vote next week.