Biden Tightens Gun Controls, CT Sounds Off

CONNECTICUT — State lawmakers and local 2nd Amendment advocates sounded off Thursday following President Joe Biden's executive actions meant to curtail gun violence.

Family members whose children were killed at the Sandy Hook school massacre in 2012, as well as the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, in 2018 attended the hearing, held in the White House Rose Garden.

Also in attendance was Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who called Biden's announcements "a stirring, searing call to action from the President—real action not merely rhetoric."

The president's announcement Thursday fulfills a pledge that he made in March to take what he termed immediate "common-sense steps" to address gun violence, following a series series of mass shootings.

Holly Sullivan, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, based in Southbury, issued a statement suggesting "common sense solutions" for the nation's gun violence crisis:

"Across this country, courts fail to prosecute actual violent criminals who steal guns and commit other crimes," Sullivan said. "Charges are dropped, cases nolled and true criminals released back onto our streets. CCDL has advocated for actual common sense solutions like funding the Gun Trafficking Task Force and increasing penalties for those who steal firearms."

Biden is also tightening regulations of buyers of "ghost guns" — homemade firearms that usually are assembled from parts and milled with a metal-cutting machine and often lack serial numbers used to trace them.

Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, who was also part of the Rose Garden hearing, told his followers on Twitter that clamping down on "ghost guns"was an obvious first step for Biden's tighter gun-control initiative:

The CCDL's Sullivan said that those unfamiliar with guns and gun culture are being misled by political rhetoric on the topic:

"The term 'ghost guns' is a terrifying misnomer for many Americans not involved in shooting sports or firearms enthusiasm. For centuries, Americans have built innovative firearms for personal recreation, reenactment and improved functionality- it is truly the core of the art of gunsmithing," Sullivan said. "A 'ghost gun' is misunderstood to be undetectable. However, it is still unlawful for a felon or other prohibited person to possess firearms. Criminals will not cease to break the law. However, this uniquely American legacy of gunsmithing is in jeopardy while we believe that legislation will not stop violent criminals from breaking the law."

Thursday's orders tighten regulations on homemade guns and provide more resources for gun-violence prevention but fall short of the more ambitious gun-control agenda Biden laid out on the campaign trail. Further gun control measures will be a tough sell in an evenly divided Senate.