Domestic Disputes Could Lead to Confiscation of Weapons

Under a new proposal by the governor, a resident who legally possesses guns would have to surrender those weapons if he or she is involved in a domestic dispute and awaiting a hearing on a restraining order.

“We can take the gun out of a difficult situation at the moment," said State Rep. William Tong, a Democrat from Stamford, who chairs the General Assembly's Judiciary Committee.

"Fourteen days later we have a hearing; what we can’t do is take the bullet back. Once that’s been fired and someone’s been shot, there’s no going back from that,” Tong added.

Gun rights advocates are staunch opponents to the proposal.

Scott Wilson, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, says the effort is just another attempt by top state officials to take guns away from people and infringe on their rights.

“Essentially, somebody makes a claim and then they force you to turn your firearms over within a 24 hour period without ever having your side heard," Wilson said.

He added that if someone is going to kill another person, he or she will find a way to do it with or without a firearm.

“There are people in domestic violence situations that have been murdered by bats, hammers, knives and by strangulation, and it’s far more frightening than firearms,” he said.

One such victim was Lori Jackson, a mother of two, who was killed by her estranged husband in her Oxford home last year.

“I knew sooner or later he was going to strike, but we didn’t think at this level," said Lori Jackson's mother, Merry, who was shot in the face during the dispute.

Lori Jackson and her husband Scott Gellatly were scheduled to have a hearing the next day on temporary restraining order.

Gellatly obtained his weapon from out of state, so this measure proposed in the General Assembly wouldn't have changed the outcome.

While Merry Jackson concedes that her daughter's case involved unique circumstances, she says that's not an excuse to sit back and do nothing.

"Something good has to come from something so terrible and if we can save one family from suffering the way we’ve had to suffer, it would be worth it,” she said.