In Wake of Florida Massacre, Gun Control Advocates Look to Connecticut<br />At a news conference in April 2013, on the day lawmakers announced an agreement on gun control, Nicole Hockley, whose son, Dylan, died at Sandy Hook, said: “We ask ourselves<br />every day — every minute — if those magazines had held 10 rounds, forcing the shooter to reload at least six more times, would our children be alive today?”<br />Connecticut’s sweeping gun laws did, however, require residents who already owned high-capacity magazines<br />and assault rifles to register them with the State Police.<br />The Giffords Center, which keeps a state-by-state report card, gave Connecticut an A-minus for its gun laws<br />— the same grade given to New York, which moved even more swiftly after Sandy Hook to pass stricter laws.<br />Analyses by the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence show that, with few exceptions, states with the strictest gun-control measures, including California, Connecticut, New Jersey<br />and New York, have the lowest rates of gun deaths, while those with the most lax laws like Alabama, Alaska and Louisiana, have the highest.<br />States like Connecticut can help shame Congress into adopting common-sense measures that keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people.”<br />State officials say Connecticut has experienced the fastest drop in violent crime of any state over the last four years.<br />The New York law not only bans the sale of assault weapons<br />and imposes universal background checks, it also prohibits both the sale — and possession — of magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds.
