Connecticut governor signs tough gun law
Measure bans hundreds of military style weapons, raises the minimum age for purchasers, and tightens background checks.
Connecticut’s governor has signed tough new gun ownership rules into law, four months after a gunman opened fire on an elementary school in the US state, killing 20 children and six adults.
Governor Dannel Malloy put his signature to the bill on Thursday, noting that the state’s ability to reach a bipartisan accord on the issue at a time of bitter debate in Congress was “something quite different in our nation”.
The measure passed in the state assembly makes Connecticut the third state after New York and Colorado to tighten gun laws in the wake of the December 14 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
More than 100 makes of rifles – including the Bushmaster AR-15 used by killer Adam Lanza in the Newtown school – were added to an existing, but now vastly expanded ban on military style weapons.
In addition, ammunition clips holding more than 10 rounds must now be registered, while new sales of the large clips are banned.
The law, which raises the minimum age for purchasers from 18 to 21, tightened the procedure for background checks. It also created the first state registry in the US of people convicted of gun-related crimes.
President Barack Obama, who campaigned in Colorado on Wednesday for a national tightening of gun laws, was set to drive home his message with a visit to Connecticut on Monday.
Despite the steady drip of massacres by gunmen in public places, Newtown being just the latest, many Americans remain staunch backers of keeping powerful firearms for sport or self-defence.