Press Releases
02/21/2018
Gov. Malloy Urges Trump Administration To Consider Connecticut Legislation On Firearm Enhancements When Enacting Federal Reforms
(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Dannel P. Malloy today wrote a letter to United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions, recommending that as the Attorney General’s Office drafts regulations regarding firearm bump stocks as requested yesterday by President Trump, they should utilize legislation he has proposed on the issue because of its carefully constructed, comprehensive, and inclusive language, which was specifically designed to increase effectiveness and improve public safety.
“As you undertake this effort, it is critically important that your regulations be drafted in a comprehensive and inclusive manner in order to increase their effectiveness for improving public safety and saving lives,” Governor Malloy wrote. “To that end, I’d like to provide you with an overview of current efforts taking place in Connecticut, and detail the specific methods our state is exploring to create an effective ban on these devices, which we know are cheap, deadly, and completely unnecessary in our society.”
**Download Governor Malloy’s letter to Attorney General Sessions here**
Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman agreed, stating, “Connecticut has prioritized public safety through the adoption of strong laws to curb gun violence, and we are ready to continue that work by banning bump stocks. I join Governor Malloy in urging the federal government to use Connecticut’s efforts to inform the discussions in Washington. Public safety must be the top priority – something students in states across the nation are making loud and clear. Inaction is not an option.”
The Governor’s legislation, which he announced last month, is all-inclusive in that it bans any type of enhancement that increases the rate of fire of a semiautomatic weapon, including, but not limited to, bump stocks, trigger cranks, binary trigger systems, and any other modifications. The definition includes any device, component, part, combination of parts, attachment, or accessory that:
A. Uses energy from the recoil of the firearm to generate a reciprocating action that facilitates repeated operation of the trigger, including, but not limited to, a bump stock;
B. Repeatedly pulls the trigger of a firearm through the use of a crank, lever or other part, including, but not limited to, a trigger crank;
C. Causes a semiautomatic firearm to fire more than one round per operation of the trigger, where the trigger pull and reset constitute a single operation of the trigger, including, but not limited to, a binary trigger system; and
D. Is constructed, manufactured, designed, or intended to mechanically increase the rate of a firearm in any way.
If the legislation becomes law in Connecticut, any person who sells, offers to sell, purchases, possesses, manufactures, transfers or uses rate of fire enhancements will be guilty of a class D felony, which is punishable by imprisonment of between one and five years and a fine up to $5,000. The legislation also carries a reasonable and important exception in order to not punish law-abiding, responsible gun owners; during the first two years the law is in effect, permit holders who are found in possession of a rate of fire enhancement will be cited with an infraction and receive a fine of $90 for their first offense.
Governor Malloy also stressed that adopting statutory language would provide many more options than available under regulatory authority, which is why it should be the federal government’s first priority to adopt legislation through Congress and enact these protocols into federal law.
The Governor’s legislation is Senate Bill 18, An Act Banning Rate of Fire Enhancements. It is currently pending in the General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Public Safety and Security.
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Office of Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman