Connecticut to ban gun sales to those on no-fly list

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy said he’s working with the federal government to obtain terrorist and no-fly lists with the intent of signing an executive order that bans those individuals from buying guns in the state.

Malloy said between 2004-2014, the data shows that people on watch lists tried to buy guns and explosives 2,233 times and succeeded more than 90% of the time.

“If you can not fly due to being on a government watch list, you should not be able to purchase a firearm”, Malloy said. A measure to ban gun sales to people on government watch lists failed in Congress this month. White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, speaking Wednesday night at a vigil for the victims of the Newtown shooting, said the president has asked his team to complete a proposal and submit it for his review “in short order”. “Keeping guns out of the hands of suspected terrorists is just common sense, and it is crucial to keeping our communities safe”, Larson said in an e-mailed statement.

“If Congress will not act, we in the states will, ” Malloy told a press conference outside his office Thursday afternoon.

The shooting has sparked renewed debates about the immigration system and gun control, with Democrats pressing to prevent gun sales to people on the no-fly list.

“You are a governor for a reason…to protect your citizenry”.

“I think this focused debate on why the NRA wins an argument that we should have to sell guns to people on the terrorism watch list is an issue worth watching”, Malloy said. The American Civil Liberties Union, which also opposes the legislation, argues that the no-fly list includes thousands of names that have been added in error. “If the government had proof, presumably the people would be prosecuted …” “And our clients are still asking for a reasonable process to recover their constitutionally protected interests”.