WASHINGTON – Reacting to the nation’s latest mass shooting in Oregon, Senate Democrats, including Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, on Thursday said they would try once again to pass legislation first prompted by the mass slaying in Newtown.
Sandy Hook
On Dec. 14, 2012, a gunman shot and killed 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Posted inPolitics
Murphy to Congress: Hold the sympathy, pass gun law
A press conference to promote a relatively modest gun-control measure became a platform Friday for U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy to denounce the U.S. Congress for refusing to act in the wake of high-profile mass shootings like the one Thursday in Oregon or the quieter daily toll of gun violence in the U.S.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Take mental health and addiction care off the CT chopping block
Today, the General Assembly and Gov. Malloy have an opportunity to strengthen and expand care for those in need of mental health and addiction services—not cut the floor out from under them. Connecticut should not be walking away from its commitment to treat people with mental illness and addictions.
Posted inHealth, Politics
CT law sharply reduced gun killings, study says
WASHINGTON – Connecticut’s decision in 1995 to make it harder to purchase a hand gun has sharply reduced gun-related homicides, a new Johns Hopkins University study shows. Gun rights advocates disagreed with the finding.
Posted inPolitics
Sandy Hook commission thanked, but not entirely embraced
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy accepted the final report of the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission on Friday, somberly and profusely thanking its 15 members while offering no support for further restrictions on firearms and ammunition.
Posted inPolitics
Esty, other lawmakers renew push for expanded gun background checks
WASHINGTON — Although they’ve been rebuffed by their colleagues before, a group of determined House lawmakers on Wednesday re-introduced legislation that would broaden FBI background checks of gun buyers.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Sandy Hook panel: Further tighten gun laws, improve mental health care
The commission Gov. Dannel P. Malloy created after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School will consider a draft report Friday recommending a further tightening of Connecticut’s gun laws, a prospect unlikely to find support in the General Assembly. The draft also describes a need for better integrating mental and physical health care and for reducing the stigma that many people with mental illness face.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Newtown activists introduce bill banning high-capacity magazines
WASHINGTON – Newtown activists on Thursday helped introduce the first gun safety bill in this Congress, officially kicking off the gun control debate on Capitol Hill. The bill would ban large capacity ammunition clips for everyone but military members and law enforcement officers.
Posted inPolitics
NRA fails to block judicial nomination of ‘anti-gunner’
The Connecticut legislature Friday ignored an NRA campaign to block the judicial nomination of a former legislator who co-sponsored the post-Newtown gun controls, voting overwhelmingly to confirm Auden C. Grogins of Bridgeport as a judge of the Superior Court.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal big on introducing legislation, bigger on consumer advocacy
WASHINGTON – Only one other senator co-sponsored more legislation than Sen. Richard Blumenthal in the outgoing Congress — just one indication of the Connecticut Democrat’s energy and broad reach on Capitol Hill. He’s used his position as a member of the majority party in the Senate and his role on key committees to make the most of his political clout. (This is the sixth in a series of stories about the roles each member of the Connecticut congressional delegation played in the 113th Congress.)
Posted inPolitics
For Esty, first term tested survival skills
WASHINGTON – Days after she won re-election, in a move that was as symbolic as it was practical, U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty and her Capitol Hill staff moved into a new office, an indication she had moved up in seniority and solidified her place in Congress. (This is the fifth in a series of stories about the roles each member of the Connecticut congressional delegation played in the 113th Congress.)
Posted inPolitics
Sandy Hook remembered with prayer, politics and litigation
The second anniversary of the Dec. 14, 2012 massacre of 26 women and children at Sandy Hook Elementary School was marked in Connecticut by litigation, prayer and politics.
Posted inPolitics
227 CT gun deaths later, Newtown families continue their campaign
WASHINGTON — Some 227 people have died from gun violence in Connecticut since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre two years ago. On Wednesday, Connecticut lawmakers joined Newtown families and victims of gun violence across the nation in renewing their calls for new federal gun laws.
Posted inEducation, Politics
On anniversary, advocates mark 95 shootings since Newtown
WASHINGTON – Gun-control advocates have marked the two-year anniversary of the massacre of first graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School with a report that says there have been 95 school shootings since the Newtown tragedy.
Posted inNews
Op-Ed: The Sandy Hook failure
Federal law requires public schools to seek out, evaluate, identify and provide services to children with disabilities, including children with serious emotional disturbances. In Adam Lanza’s case, apparently, Newtown’s schools did not.