Connecticut Lawmakers to Pass Strong Gun Law in the Wake of the Newtown Shooting

Connecticut Legislators have reached an agreement on some of the strictest gun control laws in state history, according to the Associated Press.

The drive for stricter gun laws comes in the wake of the shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December. The proposed gun control legislation is expected to pass later this week.

If passed, the legislation will illegalize high capacity magazines sales and require background checks for sales of private guns. The law will also ban 100 different types of assault weapons. Anyone who already has a weapon that has been banned will be allowed to keep their weapons.

“No gun owner will lose their gun,” House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero Jr., a Norwalk Republican, explained. “No gun owner will lose their magazines.”

However, in order to keep the banned weapons, gun owners must register the assault weapons and any high capacity magazines, with the state.

The December shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, which claimed the lives of 20 students and six faculty, added to the nationwide gun control debate. Federal legislators have been working to come up with national gun control legislators, but can’t seem to agree.

Senate President Donald E. Williams Jr, a Brooklyn Democrat, said Connecticut’s vigorous pursuit of gun laws should be emulated by legislators nationwide.

“In Connecticut, we've broken the mold,” Williams said. “Democrats and Republicans were able to come to an agreement on a strong, comprehensive bill. That is a message that should resound in 49 other states and in Washington, D.C. And the message is: We can get it done here and they should get it done in their respective states and nationally in Congress.”

While many support the bill, there are skeptics of how efficient the bill can be. Mark Barden, father of 7-year old Daniel Barden who was killed in the Newtown shooting, specifically questioned the ban on assault weapons.

“It doesn't prevent someone from going out of the state to purchase them and then bring them back. There's no way to track when they were purchased, so they can say, `I had this before,'" he said. “So it's a big loophole.”

Connecticut Governor Dannel P Malloy, who has led the charge for stricter gun control, has yet to sign off on the proposed legislation. He is expected to do so after the bill is passed in both democratic houses of state legislature.