WASHINGTON — With Donald Trump in the White House and a GOP lock on Congress, the 26 bike riders who roll hundreds of miles every year from Newtown to the U.S. Capitol to honor those slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School decided to change course. Instead of riding to Congress, they were riding away from it Thursday and toward where they believe their message has more resonance.
10 Years of Sandy Hook Coverage
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New gun laws virtually dead this year, CT lawmakers concede
After a 15-hour filibuster in the U.S. Senate and a 26-hour sit-in on the floor of the U.S. House in the past week and a half, members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation conceded Friday that new gun legislation is probably dead in 2016.
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Larson plotted House revolt clandestinely with Lewis
WASHINGTON – Civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis was the face of the unprecedented uprising by House Democrats seeking votes on gun control measures, but it was Rep. John Larson who was the behind-the-scenes planner of the insurrection and who kept it on course for more than 16 hours.
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GOP cuts off Dems’ revolt, CT lawmakers say they won’t quit
Updated at 2 p.m.
WASHINGTON — House Republicans pulled the plug on a revolt by Democrats led by Connecticut Rep. John Larson and civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis by adjourning in the middle of the night for the long July 4th break. Larson and other Democrats vowed to continue fighting for votes on gun control measures.
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With talkathon, Murphy gambled – and won
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy gambled that he was up to the physical and intellectual rigors of an open-ended filibuster aimed at pressuring Senate GOP leaders to hold votes on gun safety issues – and he won. But there was always a risk of failure.
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Murphy ends filibuster saying two gun measures will get votes
WASHINGTON — Nearly 15 hours after he launched a filibuster to pressure GOP colleagues to allow votes on gun safety measures, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy said there had been an agreement to vote on measures barring those on a terrorist watch list from purchasing firearms and expanding background checks.
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Sandy Hook riders bike to Congress with a gun safety message
WASHINGTON — In what is becoming a spring ritual, “Team 26” a group of cyclists, arrived here from Newtown Tuesday to honor victims of gun violence – and participate in a bit of Congress bashing.
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Murphy breaks Senate tradition with high-profile stands
WASHINGTON – With his fight for gun control, defense of the Affordable Care Act and clashes with President Obama on foreign policy, Sen. Chris Murphy broke with a Senate tradition that freshmen should be seen and not heard. “I don’t think there’s a waiting period anymore for freshmen,” he said. “My constituents did not elect me to be a shrinking violet.” (This is the seventh and final story in a series about the roles each member of the Connecticut congressional delegation played in the 113th Congress.)
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After Sandy Hook, firearms remain big business in CT
Wooed by Texas and other states after the passage of the post-Newtown gun restrictions last year, Stag Arms still makes its AR-15s in New Britain, though the company blames the recent layoffs of 50 workers on gun control. But the company has adapted: The version pictured above is still legal to buy in Connecticut.
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Newtown cyclists say gun control campaign now a movement
WASHINGTON — Riding 400 miles from Newtown, 26 bicyclists hoping to change the nation’s gun laws faced some strong headwinds on their way to Washington, D.C. When they reached the U.S. Capitol Tuesday, they faced even more — of the political kind.
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Malloy, a year after Sandy Hook
It was dusk, nearly quitting time. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy leaned back in a wooden captain’s chair, about to end a week’s worth of unwanted interviews, all about a date that cannot pass too quickly, the looming anniversary of Sandy Hook.
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Sandy Hook parents watch as gun bill dies in Congress
Washington — A push by the White House and lobbying by the parents of children massacred at the Sandy Hook Elementary School failed Wednesday to convince the Senate to consider a relatively modest gun-control measure: An expansion of background checks for firearms purchases. “All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington,” said […]
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Connecticut General Assembly passes bipartisan gun bill
In emotional back-to-back debates, the Connecticut Senate and House overwhelmingly voted for one of the nation’s most comprehensive gun laws Wednesday and Thursday, a long-awaited response to one of the nation’s worst mass shootings, the Sandy Hook school massacre. The Democrat-dominated legislature passed the sweeping measure with significant Republican support, a rare bipartisan gesture on […]
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New Britain company soars with AR-15 sales — for now
New Britain — Mark Malkowski celebrates 10 years in business May 1. Under other circumstances, he might expect the governor to drop by to celebrate the unlikely story of the local kid who opened a factory at age 24 in a city desperate for jobs. That’s not going to happen. Malkowski, now a boyish 34, […]
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Through their grief, the people of Newtown speak
Newtown — In a hushed auditorium, harshly lit for television, the families and neighbors of Sandy Hook’s lost children told visiting legislators Monday night to take a stand against gun violence, not always prescribing how. “You are our elected officials,” said Nicole Hockley, who last held the hand of her 6-year-old son, Dylan, as he […]