Connecticut Ranks as One of America’s Tightest Gun-Control States
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David De Lossy/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — Friday’s school shooting was perpetrated in one of America’s most restrictive gun-control states.
Connecticut, where the shooting happened and where the shooter lived, received some of the nation’s highest marks from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which ranks the strictness of state restrictions on guns. Connecticut rated fifth nationally, according to the Brady Campaign’s 2011 state rankings.
Laws in Connecticut require licenses to purchase firearms. The state provides for record keeping and retention of handgun purchases, police inspections and extended three-day limits on background checks for gun buyers, according to the scorecard for Connecticut published by the Brady Campaign.
Connecticut requires background checks for all transfers of firearms at gun shows, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Connecticut prohibits the sale and transfer of assault weapons.
Recent mass shootings have occurred in states rated poorly by gun activists. Both Colorado, where a gunman opened fire in a movie theater in July, and Oregon, site of this week’s shooting in a shopping mall, received 15 out of 100 points on the Brady Campaign’s rating scale and a D from the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Arizona, where Jared Loughner shot then-congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, received zero points and an F.
None of those three states require gun dealers to obtain licenses, impose waiting periods on gun purchases, limit the number of guns that can be bought at the same time, or ban assault weapons or large-capacity magazines, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Gun-control activists rate most state laws very poorly. On the Brady Campaign’s 100-point scale, only six states received more than 50 points, and only 10 states received a C or higher from the Law Center. Connecticut received 58 points and a B.
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