Connecticut lawmakers have approved gun control measures, which campaigners say are the strictest in America, following December Sandy Hook massacre.
The new restrictions include a ban on new high-capacity magazines and background checks on all gun buyers.
President Barack Obama and gun control advocates say the measures are needed to curb an epidemic of gun violence.
Connecticut lawmakers have approved gun control measures, which campaigners say are the strictest in America, following December Sandy Hook massacre
In December 2012, gunman Adam Lanza in Newtown, Connecticut, killed 26 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Gun rights groups argue the legislation – which was approved by both the senate and lower house in Connecticut – would not have prevented the Newtown school shooting.
Connecticut assembly passed the legislation after more than 13 hours of debate.
In Washington, the US Congress is set to debate new gun control legislation this month.
Gun control in Connecticut became a predominant political issue after 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot his way into Sandy Hook primary school with a high-powered rifle legally purchased by his mother – whom he also killed.
The killings also reignited national debate on gun control, and led to President Barack Obama making gun safety one of the defining issues of his second term, which started a month after the shooting.
Barack Obama plans to visit Connecticut on April 8 as his proposed gun control measures in Congress appear to have stalled. Correspondents say the president will use it to increase pressure on lawmakers in Washington.
Gun control measures passed by Connecticut on April 4 include:
- an expansion of the state’s assault weapons ban
- background checks for all prospective firearms purchasers, including in private transactions
- a ban on the sale or purchase of ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds
- a registry of weapons offenders
- a state eligibility certificate to purchase a rifle or shotgun that involves a psychiatric commitment check
“This is a new and historic model for the country on an issue that has typically been the most controversial and divisive,” Connecticut Senate President Donald Williams was quoted by local media as saying at the end of a 6-hour debate in the lower house on Thursday morning.
The approval of the bill by both houses of the Connecticut assembly came after weeks of negotiations between Democratic and Republican legislative leaders, who said they were determined to produce a bipartisan bill in response to the tragedy.
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US Senate Democrats will ditch a plan to ban assault weapons, all but killing off a key part of a gun control campaign prompted by a recent school massacre.
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said her proposal would be left out of the firearms control bill.
Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid made the decision, saying the proposal could not get enough votes.
An assault-type weapon was used in the December massacre that killed 26 at Sandy Hook primary school in Newtown, Connecticut.
The shooting shocked the US and revived efforts in Washington DC to prohibit such firearms.
While polls show most Americans back an assault weapon ban, influential pro-gun lobby groups such as the National Rifle Association have pressed lawmakers to oppose such a move.
Senator Dianne Feinstein said she might put forward the assault weapons proposal, similar to a previous one she sponsored that expired in 2004, as an amendment to the bill.
But she would need 60 votes from the 100-member Senate to succeed, a margin analysts say the amendment would be unlikely to reach.
“I very much regret it,” Dianne Feinstein said.
“I tried my best.”
Senator Dianne Feinstein said she might put forward the assault weapons proposal, similar to a previous one she sponsored that expired in 2004, as an amendment to the bill
The plan had only narrowly passed a Senate panel last week, underlining its poor chances of clearing the full chamber.
It was one of four gun control measures backed by the panel, including expanded background check requirements for people buying guns, harsher punishments for illegal gun trafficking, and more money for security at schools.
Meanwhile, the town of Newtown has seen a surge in applications for gun permits since the massacre at Sandy Hook primary school in which 20 schoolchildren and six teachers were murdered.
There have been 79 requests for gun permits in Newtown since the shooting on December 14, police say, although the town has only issued about 130 licences annually in recent years.
A police official said people were worried about new regulations.
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The first funerals are to be held for victims of Friday’s shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the US state of Connecticut.
Noah Pozner and Jack Pinto, both aged six, will be buried after ceremonies at 13:00 local time.
Twenty children and six women died in the assault on Sandy Hook school by a lone gunman who then took his own life. He had earlier killed his mother.
On Sunday President Barack Obama told residents at a vigil in Newtown the US must do more to protect its children.
He said he would use the powers of his office to prevent a repeat of the tragedy, adding that the nation shared the townspeople’s grief.
“We can’t tolerate this anymore,” Barack Obama said.
“These tragedies must end and to end them we must change.”
He made no specific mention of new gun control measures.
Meanwhile, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who supports gun ownership and has been given an “A” rating by the National Rifle Association, told US network MSNBC that it was time to “move beyond rhetoric” on gun control.
Joe Manchin, a gun owner and frequent hunter, said: “I’ve never had more than three shells in a clip. Sometimes you don’t get more than one shot anyway.
“It’s common sense. It’s time to move beyond rhetoric. We need to sit down and have a common sense discussion and move in a reasonable way.”
Joe Manchin is the first NRA-backed US senator to speak out since Friday’s killings.
In Connecticut, Jack Pinto will be buried in the Newtown Village Cemetery, and Noah Pozner will be buried at the B’Nai Israel Cemetery in the nearby town of Monroe, according to local media reports.
The family of James Mattioli, six, is also holding a wake on Monday.
Other victims’ funerals will be held throughout the week.
Noah Pozner and Jack Pinto, both aged six, are the first victims of Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday’s shootings to be buried in Newtown
Jack Pinto was described as a sports lover, and reports say he may be buried in the No 80 jersey of his idol, New York Giants football player Victor Cruz.
Cruz played in a game on Sunday with the boy’s name written on his shoes and gloves.
Noah Pozner was the youngest victim of the shooting, described by his family as inquisitive and mature for his age.
The parents of Jessica Rekos have spoken for the first time. In an interview with TV network ABC, they said “she was the family CEO, she was the boss”. Her funeral takes place on Tuesday.
And the family of Victoria Soto, a teacher killed at Sandy Hook, called her “the queen” of her family as they recalled her in an interview with CBS News.
“She was the best daughter any mother could ask for,” her mother, Donna Soto, said.
Victoria’s sister Carly, whose shocked expression was captured by a news photographer on Friday and published around the world, said the image already served to renew the hurt.
“It’s like a reminder of that moment all over again, and it kills,” she said.
On Monday, Lt Paul Vance said police continued to do everything they could to answer every question about the shooting.
He said that two people who had been wounded but survived the shooting would be key witnesses and would be interviewed at an appropriate time.
Children who witnessed the attack would also be interviewed – in the presence of parents and professionals – Lt Vance added.
Gunman Adam Lanza, 20, did not seem to have had run-ins with the police, he said, and gave no information about whether mental health professionals had come forward with information about him.
As well as remembering the dead, the community is getting ready for the start of the school week, with teachers struggling to know what to tell their students.
All 20 children who died in the shootings – eight boys and 12 girls – were aged between six and seven, according to an official list of the dead. The school’s head teacher, Dawn Hochsprung, was among those killed.
All victims were shot several times, some of them at close range.
Adam Lanza shot his mother -reportedly in the head – before driving to the school in her car, authorities said.
Officials say he was armed with hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and used a semi-automatic rifle as his main weapon. He was also carrying two handguns, and a shotgun was recovered from a car.
Barack Obama made an appeal for “meaningful action” against gun crime in the US shortly after the attack on Friday.
Sunday saw two senior US Democrats call for stricter gun control.
Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy said his state had an existing ban on assault weapons, but the lack of a similar law at federal level made it difficult to keep them out of the state.
And Senator Dianne Feinstein, who represents California in the upper house of Congress and is a long-term supporter of stricter gun control, said she would introduce a bill to ban assault weapons.
But opponents of gun control have hit back, saying a ban would be ineffective.
“Having a ban isn’t going to make the very people we would like to prevent from having them, [stop] having them,” said Independent Firearm Owners Association president Richard Feldman.
“They are already owned by tens of millions of people. What is the government planning to do? Come and get the guns? I don’t think so.”
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