Headlines via Newseum
In the early hours on Thursday, CT passed a new comprehensive bipartisan gun responsibility law.
Interesting read from AP:
How Conn. Gun Bill Compares to New NY, Colo. Laws
Gun control measures proposed in Connecticut after the December massacre in Newtown and expected to win approval Wednesday would be among the strongest such laws in the country. Here is a look at how the proposals compare to laws passed this year in Colorado and New York:
PBS:
Connecticut legislators are expected to pass sweeping gun-control legislation on Wednesday, becoming the third state since the Dec. 14 shooting in Newtown to do so.
But until recently, it wasn’t clear whether any legislation would even come to a vote. Connecticut has several strict gun laws in place — it was one of the few to pass a state assault weapons ban in 1993. But in recent years, the state’s pro-gun groups, using grassroots and legislative pressure, have killed two major pieces of gun-control legislation in a coordinated offensive. They strongly opposed any new laws after Newtown.
This time, though, something was different.
Local residents in support of gun-control began turning up at hearings that were once largely attended by gun advocates.
Empty threats made by the gun lobby. They were ignored by CT legislators.
NY Times:
But from beginning to end, the victims were never far away. Around 12:40 a.m. Mitch Bolinsky, a freshman Republican who has been elected from Newtown a month before the tragedy, rose to speak.
"On Dec. 14, evil visited my town and everything changed,” he said. He cited the strength he’d seen in Newtown, the compassion shown for the town, the painful journey everyone had been through and read the names of those who died at the school. He said the legislation was not perfect, especially on mental health but said his constituents overwhelming supported the firearms provisions and as a result he would vote in favor of the bill.
"I dedicate my vote to the memory of those whose lives were lost at Sandy Hook Elementary School,” he said.
More politics and policy below the fold, including a new gun responsibility poll from Quinnipiac.
Quinnipiac:
"In every Quinnipiac University poll since the Newtown massacre, nationally and in six states, we find overwhelming support, including among gun owners, for universal background checks," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "American voters agree with the National Rifle Association, however, that these background checks could lead someday to confiscation of legally-owned guns."
"The question is how many of these voters fear confiscation as an abuse of government power and how many are hoping the government uses confiscation to get more guns off the street," Brown added.
Expecting gun confiscation are Republicans 61 - 25 percent and independent voters 51 - 36 percent, while Democrats say 54 - 32 percent there will not be confiscation. Men say confiscation is likely 52 - 37 percent and women agree 45 - 38 percent.
Despite that, background checks are supported 91-8.
CNN:
But Scott Wilson, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, said nothing in the new legislation would stop someone like Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old gunman.
"In his case, he stole the guns and went on a murderous rampage. Limiting magazine capacity or mandating registration will only affect law-abiding persons, not criminals bent on murder," Wilson added.
The Connecticut Citizen Defense League? Yeah,
these guys.
Greg Sargent:
With Congress set to debate the emerging plan to expand background checks, conservatives and Republicans — and even a few red state Democrats — continue to traffic heavily in deliberate misdirection and distortions about the proposal. They are getting widespread media play and are dominating the debate.
So I asked Daniel Webster, a leading expert on gun violence who is the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, to respond to many of their arguments. Footnotes are at the end.
and
Greg Sargent:
Republican Senators (and too many red state Dems) have fallen into line behind the NRA’s lurid claims not just about the [UN international arms trafficking] treaty, but also about gun control, endorsing its paranoid and false claim that expanding background checks would create a national gun registry. With United States Senators eagerly feeding such fringe views rather than engaging in genuine policy debate, is it any wonder that it’s a major struggle to implement even the most modest and sensible effort to limit the ongoing murder of innocents, one that is supported by nine in 10 Americans?
And what's up with sports figures and their own rules?
NY Times:
With the business of college sports becoming more crucial to a university’s prominence — not to mention its bottom line — the choice of Mr. Pernetti seemed to pay off. Sports at Rutgers were on the rise and, last November, the university received a coveted invitation to join the Big Ten, an athletic conference that guaranteed vast exposure and huge television revenue.
But now, with outrage growing over the abusive behavior of Mike Rice — the university’s men’s basketball coach — Mr. Pernetti and the university’s president, Robert L. Barchi, find themselves under scrutiny for their handling of the case. Their jobs may be in jeopardy, and their university is once again attracting unflattering attention just two years after Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old gay student, killed himself after a bullying incident.