Jonathan Perloe

School administrators should communicate to every parent their legal and moral obligation to properly store their firearms.

There are life-saving solutions to be found in violence intervention and prevention programs operating at the local level

Recognizing the impact that citizens make towards promoting social justice is important. It’s a powerful proof point to encourage broader civic engagement.

Today, on Veterans Day, we honor those who risked their lives to defend America and our values. So it’s extremely troubling to know that more than 6,000 veterans die by suicide each year, nearly twice the number of soldiers who were killed in action during the entire seven-year long Iraq war. 

It shouldn’t take a global pandemic to bring to light the impact of the Republican party’s war on the working class, but now that it’s here, the real-life consequences of their coddling of big business is plain to see. Along with the health threat of the coronavirus, workers now must also worry about the economic consequences of staying home sick without pay. That’s why the coronavirus economic relief bill put forward by the House Democrats required paid sick leave.

While Connecticut has the fifth lowest rate of gun deaths in the nation, we still have an unacceptably high level of gun homicide. Although the number of deaths has come down substantially since the 1990s there were 72 gun homicides in 2019, on average more than one a week. The deaths are concentrated in our largest cities: gun homicides in Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven accounted for two-thirds of 2019 statewide gun homicides. Black men are disproportionately the victims, killed by guns at 25 times the rate that non-Hispanic white men are.

“A judge shall act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary, and shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety,” reads the American Bar Association’s Model Code of Conduct. It is clear on its face that 53 of the judges now sitting in the impeachment trial of President Trump are in gross violation of this code.

Often we hear “criminals don’t follow laws” as the reason for opposing gun laws and “just enforce the laws we have” for not strengthening the laws we have. So here are three recent examples where the existence and enforcement of Connecticut’s strong gun laws very likely saved lives.

One of the key missions of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is to protect communities from “illegal use and trafficking of firearms.”As such, it’s unacceptable that Chuck Canterbury, President Trump’s nominee to lead the ATF, opposes any new federal gun regulation, including background checks for all gun sales.

The grassroots citizens’ campaign to have the Connecticut General Assembly join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact has steadily picked up supporters, to a degree unprecedented in the five previous attempts the bill has been introduced to the legislature. Despite a legislative setback in the House this week, the bill has come farther than anytime since 2009.