... you have 72 hours to discover it is missing and report it. Otherwise, you will be fined or jailed. So according to this law, all persons must check on the whereabouts of their firearms at least every 72 hours to ascertain if it is still where they left it.
How many times have you had something grow legs and the last time you saw it was months ago? "It was here the last time I looked here; and now it's gone." will be no excuse for those who fail to check their firearms every 72 hours. The law does not state that one must report the missing firearm within 72 hours of the discovery that it is missing.
So, let's say that your nephew steals your firearm on Saturday, and uses it in a crime on Wednesday, and the first you know that it is missing is when the knock comes on your door on Friday. You are an "illegal gun trafficker" pursuant to the law.
I hate it when politicians pass laws for no other reason than to show "We're doing something."
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hr/hc-guns0228.artfeb28,0,5352180.story
How many times have you had something grow legs and the last time you saw it was months ago? "It was here the last time I looked here; and now it's gone." will be no excuse for those who fail to check their firearms every 72 hours. The law does not state that one must report the missing firearm within 72 hours of the discovery that it is missing.
So, let's say that your nephew steals your firearm on Saturday, and uses it in a crime on Wednesday, and the first you know that it is missing is when the knock comes on your door on Friday. You are an "illegal gun trafficker" pursuant to the law.
I hate it when politicians pass laws for no other reason than to show "We're doing something."
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hr/hc-guns0228.artfeb28,0,5352180.story
City Officials Back Handgun Bill
February 28, 2007
By TINA A. BROWN, Courant Staff Writer Hartford's top officials rallied behind a legislative bill Tuesday that could require the state's 132,000 handgun owners and dealers to report a loss or stolen firearm within 72 hours or risk criminal charges.
The bill, being discussed by the legislature's judiciary committee, is intended to stop illegal gun traffickers from falsely claiming their firearms had been lost or stolen if the guns are found to have been used in a crime. Gun owners "should be just as accountable as the person who pulls the trigger," said Lisa Labella, co-executive director of Connecticut Against Gun Violence.
Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez, Police Chief Daryl K. Roberts, and community activists Lorenzo Jones, Lee Hunt and Henry Brown joined Labella Tuesday at a press conference at the Johnson-Stewart Community Center. They kicked off a so-called Red Flag public awareness campaign aimed at getting the public to ask, "Where did they get the gun?" each time a gun crime is committed.
"We want to raise a red flag about the second crime - the crime of gun trafficking," Labella said during a telephone interview.
Perez, an advocate for getting illegal guns off the streets of Hartford, supports the bill.
Jones, executive director of A Better Way Foundation, a lobbyist group, said during a telephone interview that his group partnered with Connecticut Against Gun Violence because "it's not enough to arrest the shooter of the gun. We've got to go after the traffickers, and stop guns from coming into Hartford in the first place. They don't sell guns in Hartford. The city has no legal gun shops."
The Hartford Police Department reported 197 shooting victims in 2006, an 11.3 percent increase over the previous year, according to city records. City police data show 272 people were arrested on gun charges in 2006, a 28.3 percent increase over the previous year.
Roberts said in a prepared statement that 500 guns were seized in 2006. Assigned teams of gun detectives around the city are working to confiscate illegal guns.
He could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
When a gun used in a crime can be traced, police usually have no way to punish registered owners who may have traded their guns for drugs or sold them to a convicted felon because those owners typically say the gun was stolen, Labella said.
If the bill becomes law, gun owners who fail to report a lost or stolen firearm within 72 hours would be fined for the first offense; charged with a misdemeanor for the second offense; and charged with a Class D felony for the third offense, Labella said.
"This gives police a tool to track the weapon. We are trying to go after people who buy guns legally and sell them to people who aren't supposed to have them. We need to stop the flow of illegal gun traffickers," Labella said.
Ashley Varner, spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association, said she could not respond to the specifics of the 72-hour-reporting bill, but the organization "opposes the spirit of bills like this that penalize innocent people. The spirit behind it puts the burden on the person who is a victim of theft and should be placed on the thief," she said.
"We shouldn't put further burdens on law-abiding citizens," Varner said.
Similar presentations by Connecticut Against Gun Violence are scheduled next month in New Haven and Bridgeport.
Contact Tina A. Brown at tabrown@courant.com.