After the hearing, the committee decided not to vote to bring the bill
before the senate, because a majority on the committee did not support the
bill. It was reported that the bill was dead. Those of us that own some of
these rifles rejoiced! We would not be made instant criminals by our
legislature! We won this battle, or so we thought.
Friday morning, May 26th, our bubble burst. News spread on the internet like
lightning! The senate passed SB 1402, AN ACT CONCERNING A SINGLE STATE
HANDGUN PERMIT, except they removed the portion of the bill concerning that
permit, and replaced it with the full text of the "assault" weapons ban. I
don't know if we are the first state in which this happened, but this has to
be one of the most uniquely titled semi-automatic rifle bans in the country.
Ignoring all of the testimony against this bill at the public hearing, the
senate, at an hour approaching midnight, without any public debate, passed
the Penn/Jepsen semi-auto rifle ban, calling it "An act concerning a single
state handgun permit." This should outrage all of the citizens of
Connecticut, not just gun owners. It should make us all wonder what other
kinds of garbage bills have been passed with innocent sounding names.
Most sportsman and gun owners groups had endorsed SB1402, when it was an act
concerning a single state handgun permit. Most of the newsletters and
correspondence with legislators and senators sent by these groups, asked
that this bill be supported. It is a known fact that most representatives
cannot read and comprehend all of the legislation that is written during any
given session. There is simply too much of it, and it would be humanly
impossible to do so. Our representatives rely on us to understand the bills
we support and oppose, and use our input to decide how to vote. A lot of
senators may have seen the support for SB 1402 coming from their
constituents, and voted accordingly, not realizing that the bill in no way
resembled the version that we asked them to support.
As of this writing, the bill is being considered by the house or
representatives for passage. It is imperative that everyone contact his or
her legislator, and ask that he/she oppose this slight of hand, and any
others like it which may occur in the future. The senators guilty of this
type of misdeed will only continue this practice if we let them get away
with it.