Gun owners, rights groups challenge Connecticut firearms ban

By DAVE COLLINS
Associated Press

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Gun rights groups and firearms owners have launched another attempt to overturn Connecticut’s ban on certain semiautomatic rifles that was enacted in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. A new lawsuit was filed Thursday in federal court, citing a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that overturned a New York law and expanded gun rights. The high court had earlier upheld assault weapons bans in Connecticut and New York passed in response to the school shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators in 2012. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong says the state’s gun laws save lives and he will defend them against the new lawsuit.