Connecticut lawmakers approve nation’s toughest gun laws, banning 100 weapons and large ammo clips
The Connecticut school massacre gunman Adam Lanza spent hours playing violent video games such as Call Of Duty in a windowless bunker in the family home, family friends claim.
Connecticut lawmakers have approved the nation's toughest gun laws.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, the Democratic-controlled General Assembly followed the Senate in passing a wide-ranging, 139-page bill that includes sweeping new restrictions on weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines, WFSB reported.
The bill requires background checks for all purchasers.
The laws are a response to the deadly shooting at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, referred to by one lawmaker as "the nation's worst nightmare."
The Senate passed the bill 26 to 10 and the House approved it 105 to 44 in Hartford, Bloomberg wrote. Both were bipartisan votes.
Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was scheduled to sign the bill at noon during a ceremony at the state Capitol.
Some parts of the bill will take effect immediately after Malloy puts his signature on the bill.
Connecticut House majority leader Joe Aresimowicz said of the decision:
"I pray today's bill — the most far-reaching gun safety legislation in the country — will prevent other families from ever experiencing the dreadful loss that the 26 Sandy Hook families have felt."
House Speaker Brendan Sharkey, a 50-year-old Hamden Democrat, said in a statehouse interview:
"The content of this legislation speaks for itself as really the strongest gun control legislation in the country. The details of this package, when reviewed by other states, will be a terrific blueprint for how to do this in a comprehensive way."
Connecticut joins California, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts in having the country's strongest gun control laws, the AP cited Brian Malte, director of mobilization for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington, as saying.
Colorado and New York also passed tougher gun legislation in the wake of the Newtown shooting, in which Adam Lanza, 20, stormed into the elementary school and shot dead 20 first graders and six teachers.
More from GlobalPost: Sandy Hook shooting
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