Connecticut Making New Criminals

Connecticut Senate Bill 1094  has been introduced and referred to the Joint Committee on Judiciary. SB 1094 seeks to prohibit the possession of firearms magazines that accept more than ten rounds of ammunition. If passed and signed into law, any person in possession of any magazine greater than ten rounds, who has not already surrendered the magazine prior to enactment or ninety days after enactment, will be guilty of a class D felony.

A Class D felony is punished by a prison term of 1 to 5 years and a fine of up to $5,000.  Class D felonies include Assault or larceny of an elderly, blind, disabled, pregnant, or mentally retarded; Unlawful restraint in the first degree; Disseminating voyeuristic material; and Incest.

SB1094 is set to be “fast tracked” through the legislature.  The proposed effective date is 1 July 2011.

The state proposes to turn tens of thousands of lawful citizens into felons with the stroke of a pen; and/ take millions of dollars of legal merchandise from citizens without any compensation.

SB 1094 is a bill in search of a problem, despite the recent media attention given to “large capacity” magazines; no correlation exists between the size or arbitrary capacity of a detachable magazine and violent crime. Owners of “large capacity” magazines are not criminals or individuals intent on committing atrocious acts; they are sportsmen or firearm enthusiasts who own the magazines for a variety of reasons, including sport, competition or self-defense.

Please contact your representatives in the legislature and the members of the Joint Committee on Judiciary here and respectfully urge them to oppose SB 1094 and any legislation that forces law-abiding citizens to surrender their property based on the actions of criminals who will not abide by this proposed law.

NOTE: The underlined portions of text are links to related websites.