Conn. gun control bill OK'd, heads to Malloy

HARTFORD -- Connecticut lawmakers approved sweeping new restrictions on weapons and large-capacity magazines early Thursday, a response to the Newtown school shooting that will give the state some of the country's tightest gun-control laws.

The December massacre of 26 people inside Sandy Hook Elementary, which reignited a national debate on gun control, set the stage for changes in the state that may have been impossible elsewhere. The governor, who personally notified parents whose children were slain that day, championed the cause. Legislative leaders struck a bipartisan agreement they want to serve as a national model. "The tragedy in Newtown demands a powerful response, demands a response that transcends politics," said Senate President Donald E. Williams Jr., a Democrat. "It is the strongest and most comprehensive bill in the country."

The bill passed the Senate in a bipartisan 26-10 vote following a respectful and at times somber six-hour debate Wednesday. The state House then debated the bill until after 2 a.m. Thursday before passing the bill 105-44. Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has said he would sign it into law. The measure adds more than 100 firearms to the state's assault weapons ban and creates what officials have called the nation's first dangerous-weapon-offender registry as well as eligibility rules for buying ammunition.

Connecticut will join states including New York, New Jersey, California, and Massachusetts in having the nation's strongest gun control laws, said Brian Malte, of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington.

New York and Colorado also passed new gun control requirements in the wake of the Newtown shooting. Wednesday in Maryland, the state House passed gun legislation that bans sales of assault-style weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, impose new licensing requirements for handgun buyers and bar the mentally ill from owning firearms. The measure must be reconciled with that of the state Senate, which already approved its version.

With Bloomberg News