HARTFORD, Conn. — A group of pro-gun rights plaintiffs is taking aim at Connecticut’s gun laws that were established in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting nearly 10 years ago.
It’s a case that has the potential to go all the way to the highest court in the nation and the group's attorneys told FOX61 they filed the lawsuit now because of a June U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled New York’s handgun laws were too restrictive. It opened the door to more litigation.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said he expected something like this would happen.
The reforms that became law in the wake of the Sandy Hook school massacre gave Connecticut some of the nation’s strictest gun laws.
“We're going to win,” said Tong.
Some of those laws are being challenged by the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, along with a handful of other plaintiffs.
“The case is viable. It is lawful and we intend to win,” remarked Attorney Craig Fishbein, who is also a Republican state representative from Wallingford. Fishbein was one of the people who wrote the more than 80-page legal filing.
It alleges that Connecticut’s ban on certain semi-automatic weapons violates both the 2nd and 14th amendments of the Constitution.
“Legal people just want to be able to defend themselves with firearms that all across the country other people are able to defend themselves with,” said Fishbein.
If the lawsuit is successful, about 50 so-called ‘sporting rifles’ currently banned by state law would not only be available for purchase again but also for resale.
“It’s opening the door to continued ownership,” said Fishbein.
So Connecticut’s state and federal delegations are gearing up for the legal challenge of a lifetime to protect the laws that, they say, have saved countless lives.
“This is part and parcel to a national attack on Connecticut and Connecticut’s gun laws that keep our families safe," Tong explained. "It’s an attack on public safety. It’s an attack on law enforcement and we are going to fight tooth and nail to protect Connecticut's gun laws."
Sen. Richard Blumenthal also weighed in, calling Connecticut’s gun laws eminently constitutional and serving as a template for national gun reform.
“The safer communities act that we passed just recently. It was bipartisan and based on Connecticut’s laws. The ones that are being challenged. I think this is a futile, frivolous effort simply to gain publicity,” remarked Blumenthal.
Tong called the lawsuit baseless.
Both sides of the issue have scored recent victories. Gun rights advocates scored a victory in 2020 when the state shut down firearm fingerprinting due to COVID restrictions. It limited people's access to obtain a permit. Advocates sued and won.
Gun reform advocates also scored a major victory Monday when the Supreme Court refused to take up the issue of a federal ban on bump stocks.
Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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