NEW YORK TIMES, HARTFORD COURANT (USA)
WASHINGTON – Connecticut lawmakers approved a comprehensive package of gun laws in the early hours of Thursday.
The sweeping package bans the sale of magazines carrying ten or more bullets, requires background checks on all firearms sales, sets up a registry of weapons offenders and imposes mental health monitoring in schools.
The Senate passed the bill 26-10 on Wednesday, and at 2.26 a.m. on Thursday, the House of Representatives approved it 105-44. Governor Malloy is expected to sign the bipartisan bill at noon today, reports the Hartford Courant.
The law package comes 110 days after Adam Lanza fired 154 shots in about 4 minutes with a semiautomatic rifle, killing 26 students and teachers in the Connecticut town of Newtown, reports the New York Times. The vote is a first in a state that has been at the heart of the U.S. gun manufacturing industry.
Connecticut Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, whose district includes Newtown, told the Hartford Courant that since the killings, he had been “working, as have others … to see what we can do to heal that community — if we can do anything.” “What we can do to make Connecticut safer?” he asked, “I'm proud that we've done that."
In an emotional moment for the Connecticut state Senate, McKinney recited the names of the 20 first-graders and six educators that were shot at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newton three months ago, reports the Hartford Courant.
