Our legislative focus this year was a bill that required the reporting of lost or stolen firearms. The bill passed in the Senate 26-6, but failed to pass the House on a 66 to 79 vote. This means that if 7 of the no votes had voted yes, the legislation would have passed.

• Reaction to the House vote on Lost & Stolen firearms
  State rep failed to protect her constituents, By Doug Hardy
  
  State Rep. Minnie Gonzalez (D-Hartford) should be ashamed of herself.
  Not only did she turn her back on her fellow Democrats, but she also did an enormous disservice to her community last week when she abstained from voting on the lost and stolen firearms bill - a bill that would have finally begun to address the plague of gun violence in Hartford and Connecticut's other urban areas. Read more.

• Who killed the bill - The author, Tremaine Williams, is a Bulkeley High School student and a participant in the Echoes from the Streets youth news magazine program operated by Our Piece of the Pie in Hartford. OPP Inc. is a nonprofit youth development agency dedicated to helping Hartford youth become successful adults.

• Stolen Firearms bill Falls in the House by Seven Votes
  Legislation that would have required the reporting of lost or stolen firearms failed to pass the House on a 66 to 79 vote. This means that if 7 of the no votes had voted yes, the legislation would have passed.
  
  It is frustrating to come so close, but victory on this important legislation is clearly within reach for the 2007 session. We are about to overcome the NRA's huge funding advantage and influence to pass this common sense legislation that will help keep illegal guns from finding their way to our streets.

• View the House vote
  
  
• View the list of legislators who have accepted contributions in 2002 or 2004 from either the National Rifle Association or SPORTSPAC, the PAC associated with Coalition of CT Sportsmen (source: http://www.followthemoney.org/). We commend those legislators who voted YES on the bill in spite of accepting these donations.