HARTFORD, Conn. (Washington Insider Magazine)- Gun owners and pro-gun rights organizations have started yet another endeavor to repeal Connecticut’s ban on certain semiautomatic weapons, which was enforced in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Three firearm owners, the Second Amendment Foundation, and the Connecticut Citizens Defense League have all filed a new case in federal court, according to ABC NEWS. They are attempting to remove the state’s ban on what they refer to as “modern sporting arms,” such as the AR-15-style rifles used in the 2012 Newtown school shooting that resulted in the deaths of 6 teachers and Twenty first-graders.
State officials swore to uphold the firearms regulations from that year.
A 6-3 decision by the conservative majority of the Supreme Court in June overturned a New York statute that prohibited carrying a gun in public and had an impact on half a dozen other states that had similar regulations. Following the verdict, New York as well as other states moved to enact new gun control measures that adhere to the rule.
Gun rights organizations have already tried to have Connecticut’s assault weapon prohibition overturned. However, in 2016, the Supreme Court, which then had fewer conservative justices, dismissed appeals against the assault weapons prohibitions that had been enacted in Connecticut and New York as a result of the Sandy Hook shooting.
A female victim of domestic abuse and 2 former state correctional officers are among the plaintiffs in the latest lawsuit. They claim they wish to own “modern sporting rifles for defensive purposes.” Republican state lawmakers Doug Dubitsky of Chaplin and Craig Fishbein of Wallingford are two of their attorneys.
They claim that the Second Amendment and the 14th Amendment’s rights to due process are both violated by Connecticut’s gun restrictions.
Democratic governor Ned Lamont, public safety commissioner James Rovella, and a number of state prosecutors were named in the lawsuit.
Lamont said on Friday that the state’s strict gun control laws were designed to avert “needless tragedy,” received bipartisan support at the time of their approval, and have broad public support.
The 2013 state law expanded the state’s ban on assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines to more than 100 guns, including the rifle used in the school shooting.
Adam Lanza, the Newtown gunman, used a Bushmaster XM15-E2S weapon and 30-round magazines to fire almost 150 bullets in less than 5 minutes. His mother, who possessed the firearm lawfully, was slain at their Newtown house before he left for school. As the police arrived at the school, Lanza shot himself to death there.
The law also established eligibility requirements for purchasing ammunition and what officials referred to as the first dangerous weapon offenders registry in the country.