We Have Strong Gun Laws, Despite Low Score
By LEANNE GENDREAU
Updated 8:40 AM EDT, Mon, Sep 28, 2009
A score of 54 is terrible, unless it’s better than just about everyone else’s score. That’s how Connecticut comes to have one of the country’s strongest gun laws, despite scoring 54 points out of a possible 100.
Connecticut and Massachusetts are tied for third place in the 2009 scorecard of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Two-thirds of the states scored less that 20 points and almost half scored less than 10 points. California and New Jersey had the highest scores.
Connecticut's strong laws help fight the illegal gun market, require most guns to be sold with background checks and protect children from danger, according to the Brady Campaign's report.
Connecticut got its best score for requiring universal background checks and a comprehensive permit to buy firearms.
Connecticut also got a perfect score for making it harder for people not in law enforcement or security to carry guns in public.
Rachel Parsons, spokesperson for the National Rifle Association, told the New Haven Register that the annual scorecard as “suspect” because it lacks crime statistics from outside sources such as the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“There is absolutely no validity to the scorecard. Violent crime rates have been falling since the mid-1990s,” she told the newspaper.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC Connecticut
First Published: Sep 28, 2009 6:59 AM EDT
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