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Gun control laws will save Connecticut lives
The objections (reported in your March 15 edition) to pending legislation to strengthen Connecticut's firearms laws are appalling.
Sen. Guglielmo's assertion that they won't work is clearly wrong. If Connecticut's assault weapons ban had been as strong as that proposed by Connecticut Against Gun Violence, of which I am a director, and if its ban on high capacity magazines proposed by CAGV in 2011 and killed by NRA and the gun manufacturers, which is part of CAGV's current proposals, had been law on Dec. 14, 2012, it's very likely the tragedy in Newtown would not have happened. At the very least, there would almost certainly have been fewer casualties.
Dennis Veilleux, Colt's CEO, seems unaware that his company and the rest of the firearms industry, egged on by the paranoid fanatics in the NRA leadership and with the connivance of legislators like Sen. Guglielmo, have created a monster that kills 30,000 people every year, wounds at least that many more and is involved in myriad violent crimes where guns are involved but no one is shot.
The economic costs are staggering - an estimated $12 billion in direct costs to the taxpayers and as much as $175 billion in costs to society at-large. His sole concern appears to be that his company will lose some of its Connecticut customers and might have to lay off some of its employees.
Passage of all CAGV's proposed legislation will not end all gun violence in Connecticut, but it will surely save lives. That it may inconvenience gun owners, who comprise only about 16 percent of Connecticut's population, seems a small price to pay for reducing the terrible costs we all now pay for having firearms laws that are demonstrably inadequate.
I'm not against guns. I've been shooting all kinds of guns since 1939 and still am. I'm also an NRA member. However, I have long been alarmed at the costs of gun violence and hope this time the legislature will have the backbone to face down the NRA and the gun industry and enact legislation that will help reduce those costs. If the Dec. 14, 2012 massacre of 20 innocent, little children and 6 teachers in Newtown doesn't stiffen their spines, I fear nothing will.
James Greer
New Haven
Sen. Guglielmo's assertion that they won't work is clearly wrong. If Connecticut's assault weapons ban had been as strong as that proposed by Connecticut Against Gun Violence, of which I am a director, and if its ban on high capacity magazines proposed by CAGV in 2011 and killed by NRA and the gun manufacturers, which is part of CAGV's current proposals, had been law on Dec. 14, 2012, it's very likely the tragedy in Newtown would not have happened. At the very least, there would almost certainly have been fewer casualties.
Dennis Veilleux, Colt's CEO, seems unaware that his company and the rest of the firearms industry, egged on by the paranoid fanatics in the NRA leadership and with the connivance of legislators like Sen. Guglielmo, have created a monster that kills 30,000 people every year, wounds at least that many more and is involved in myriad violent crimes where guns are involved but no one is shot.
The economic costs are staggering - an estimated $12 billion in direct costs to the taxpayers and as much as $175 billion in costs to society at-large. His sole concern appears to be that his company will lose some of its Connecticut customers and might have to lay off some of its employees.
Passage of all CAGV's proposed legislation will not end all gun violence in Connecticut, but it will surely save lives. That it may inconvenience gun owners, who comprise only about 16 percent of Connecticut's population, seems a small price to pay for reducing the terrible costs we all now pay for having firearms laws that are demonstrably inadequate.
I'm not against guns. I've been shooting all kinds of guns since 1939 and still am. I'm also an NRA member. However, I have long been alarmed at the costs of gun violence and hope this time the legislature will have the backbone to face down the NRA and the gun industry and enact legislation that will help reduce those costs. If the Dec. 14, 2012 massacre of 20 innocent, little children and 6 teachers in Newtown doesn't stiffen their spines, I fear nothing will.
James Greer
New Haven
posted by Matt DeRienzo at
7:18 PM
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