The Giffords Law Center released its annual report card on Monday, December 18th, with Connecticut topping the chart as one of the only three states to receive the grade: “A,” with some of the strongest common sense gun law policies in the US. Following California, New Jersey, and Connecticut, eight states received an A-minus, while over 20 states received Fs. Peter Ambler, executive director of Giffords, has stated in the report’s press release, “We’ve proven that lawmakers can save lives, reduce violence, and make their states safer by following a simple blueprint: pass and implement gun violence prevention laws.”
Connecticut’s ranking can be largely attributed to success in June. Earlier this year, the Connecticut Against Gun Violence Youth Council (many members of which are Danbury High School students) worked in partnership with Connecticut’s Governor Ned Lamont in proposing and passing the bipartisan legislative House bill No. 6667, which strengthened common-sense gun laws in Connecticut and set precedent at the federal level. This fall, on the state level, HB-6667 went into effect, while on the federal level, the Biden Administration established the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention (with CAGV).
HB-6667 has updated certain aspects of existing gun laws in Connecticut. The bill bans open-carry firearms, strengthens safety storage laws, expands on a ban of AR-15s and other high-capacity magazines, limits the sale of handguns to three per month, and raises the minimum age to purchase semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21 years old. The bill also bans ghost guns- virtually untraceable firearms with no serial number to trace crimes back to purchases.
Though the Giffords group commends Connecticut for having the fifth lowest rate of deaths by firearm (7 deaths per 100,000 residents), Connecticut placed third after losing points due to a lack of legislation regarding safety standards for handgun designs and microstamping requirements.
Lawmakers in Connecticut have proposed studies on microstamping technology, however, the bill did not progress.
Connecticut is one of the strictest (and therefore, statistically, safest) states when it comes to gun laws. Reports show that the state has the fifth-lowest per-capita rate of gun suicides after Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Hawaii. Congrats, Yankees!
References:
Giffords Law Center
A new CT gun law passed in 2023. Here’s what to know about it
Legislative Session Overviews – CT Against Gun Violence
House Bill 6667
