O’Dea Votes Yes on Gun, School Safety, and Mental Health Bill

HARTFORD- In the wake of the tragic and horrific crimes by a mentally deranged shooter in Newtown, State Rep. Tom O’Dea (New Canaan and Wilton) announced his support for a bipartisan agreement reached recently by legislative leaders based on the Sandy Hook taskforce charged with crafting concrete solutions to address gun violence, school safety and mental health.

“My vote was cast at 2:30 am on Thursday morning with much deliberation and thoughtful reflection after about eight hours of intense debate. I voted for the bill because I believe it will enhance public safety. Specifically this legislation includes provisions on mental health treatment, school security and the elimination of early release credits for violent offenders. There is a lot of misinformation concerning this legislation. This bill does not confiscate any gun or magazine.” said Rep. O’Dea, a member of the Judiciary Committee.

“The public outcry following the heartbreaking Sandy Hook massacre was overwhelming. While I absolutely would have preferred more time to receive public input on the bill and obtain more information on what happened in Newtown, I believe the positives of the legislation outweigh the negatives. In an effort to improve the legislation, a number of us supported amendments but we were unsuccessful. As a member of the minority party with a 2 to 1 disadvantage in the legislature, we had two choices: sit back and allow the majority party to legislate our rights away; or, participate in the drafting process in an effort to protect the rights of law-abiding gun owners and enhance public safety. If you think we should have done the former, just look at the Governor’s bill to see what would have happened.”

“Let me be clear, this legislation does not criminalize any citizen who currently legally owns a semi-automatic firearm or large capacity magazine. Gun owners will be permitted to keep their firearms as long as they follow the new reporting requirements,” said Rep. O’Dea.

Some of the highlights of the new laws addressing mental health services and school security:

• Requiring DMHAS to administer a mental health training program to teach people to recognize the signs of mental illness in children and young adults.
• Allows boards of education to offer in-service mental health training.
• Creates a task force to conduct a comprehensive study of Connecticut’s mental health system with a focus on 16-25-year-olds.
• Expands DMHAS’s Assertive Community treatment (ACT) program to three additional locations to provide recovery-oriented treatment and support.
• Establishes a School Safety Infrastructure Council to develop safety standards for school building projects
• Reauthorizes the school security infrastructure competitive grant program to reimburse towns for approved school safety upgrades.
• Requires school security and safety plans be developed at each school.
• Requires school climate committees established by bullying law to investigate instances of disturbing and threatening behavior reported to it.

Some of the gun safety measures include:

• Establishes a dangerous weapon offender registry.
• Requires “universal background checks” on the sale of all firearms.
• Focuses Connecticut’s Assault Weapons Ban on the functionality and operability features of a weapon rather than the cosmetic characteristics.
• Bans the sale or purchase of large capacity magazines.
• Allows current legal owners of large capacity magazines and newly outlawed guns to keep them.
• Expands Connecticut’s safe storage law that.
• Increases penalties for firearms trafficking and illegal possession offenses.

Additionally, this bill ends the practice of giving Early Release (good time) credits to violent offenders.

“While I understand that this bill is not perfect, it is my belief that it will make our communities safer, address gun violence, mental health and school security while not overstepping individual rights. Gun owners will still be able to keep their current guns and magazines and there will be minimal impact on the types of guns and magazines future gun enthusiasts will be able to buy in Connecticut,” said Rep. O’Dea.