One of the nation’s largest firearms trade associations filed a lawsuit last week to overturn Connecticut’s strict gun-control laws passed in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting last December.
The new gun laws violate the Second Amendment and were passed in violation of state statutes, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) argues in its lawsuit.
Specifically, the NSSF argues Gov. Dannel Malloy (D.) and the Connecticut General Assembly misused the so-called "emergency certification" exception to circumvent the regular legislative process.
"A 139-page bill was assembled behind closed doors, bypassing both the public hearing and committee processes, and quickly sent to floor votes on the same day in both the House and Senate where legislators did not have adequate time to even read the bill," said Larry Keane, the senior vice president and general counsel of the NSSF. "The governor then signed the package into law the next day. All of this is in violation of guarantees citizens are supposed to have under Connecticut State Statutes and protections in our state and U.S. Constitution for which our forefathers fought."
The 9,500-member-strong NSSF is headquartered in Newtown, Conn., just miles away from where a gunman killed 20 schoolchildren and six adult staff members in December.
The shooting prompted a renewed fight among gun-control advocates for tighter firearms laws across the country. Connecticut was one of several states, including New York, Maryland, and California, to pass sweeping new regulations on guns.
Connecticut’s new law bans the sale of more than 100 types of so-called "military-style" rifles and penalizes gun owners who fail to register with the state police by Jan. 1. It also limits high-capacity magazines.
The NSSF is also seeking an injunction to stop the enforcement of the law.
State officials say court precedent is on their side.
"We believe the bill improves public safety, and we will work with the Attorney General's office to defend it," Malloy spokesman Andrew Doba told Reuters. "Let's not forget that this has happened before. In prior instances where Connecticut has passed common sense restrictions on firearms, there have been challenges. They have all been unsuccessful."