Connecticut Joins 16-State Coalition To Reduce Gun Violence

By Joe O’Leary

January 2 @ 11:30 am

Connecticut will join 15 other states in a coalition to reduce and prevent firearm violence by coordinating efforts to uphold enforcement of state laws, state Attorney General William Tong announced last month.

The coalition is the first of its kind. It seeks to reduce the prevalence of gun violence and the lasting impact it has on those affected by working together to ensure civil liability and consumer protection laws are being followed and enforced, according to Tong’s office.

Under the first action taken by the coalition, the Attorneys General of Minnesota and New Jersey filed lawsuits in state courts against gun manufacturer Glock for violations of their state laws related to the ease with which the company’s handguns can be modified to fire automatically.

In a statement, the states said they were joining together to counter firearm industry business practices that lead to illegal sales, trafficking of firearms across state lines and additional outcomes that can threaten American lives.

Their concerns result from the results of commissioned studies. According to a report by the Joyce Foundation, firearm violence has killed more than 700,000 Americans from 2003 to 2022, including more than 420,000 suicides and 270,000 homicides.

The foundation found that gun violence can cause up to $500 billion in economic losses each year. While 13 states have introduced offices of gun violence prevention since 2019, many are small and have limits to their operations. The coalition of Attorneys General is meant to strengthen efforts to reduce gun violence by combining state-level resources on a wider scale.

Many states have found success individually filing lawsuits against firearms manufacturers operating illegally, meaning these efforts will be bolstered by collaboration.

“We are launching a groundbreaking multistate campaign to step up our enforcement and harness the power of our civil statutes to hold bad actors in the firearms industry accountable for dangerous misconduct,” Tong said. “I’m committed to using every ounce of my authority to keep Connecticut families safe.”

Such efforts could help reduce interstate transfers of firearms, as one example. The Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health reported that, from 2010 to 2019, the United States saw more than 500,000 firearms used in crimes traced to interstate purchase, transportation and trafficking, adding that inflow of guns from states with fewer restrictions contribute to gun violence in states with supply reduction strategies. States with such laws in place could step up enforcement if trafficked or transported firearms are discovered.

Under the coalition, Tong will join the Attorneys General of California, Colorado, Delaware, Washington, D.C., Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont.