Speaking of Connecticut . . .

While I'm on the subject of bizarre attitudes in Connecticut about guns, I should probably mention that the drive in Connecticut to turn crime victims into criminals is moving forward. I refer (as I did here, among other places) to Connecticut Senate Bill 903. This bill would make failure to report the loss or theft of a firearm within 72 hours of the time the owner knows or "should have known" (and how is that defined?) a crime (a felony, on subsequent "offenses"). It also places responsibility on the gun owner to store his or her firearms in a manner that makes stealing them difficult (if the specifics of what the storage requirements are have been defined, I haven't been able to find them). I'll bet that private owners of guns will be held to higher standards than the Hartford, Connecticut police department has managed to meet. In other words, this law says that if your gun is stolen, you are subject to blame for it--good thing we're not holding the poor burglar fully responsible for his actions.

Also, referring again to today's earlier post about Stanley Janiak (the owner of the illegal "arsenal"), this law brings up an interesting dilemma. What if any of his guns are stolen? Clearly, SB 903 cannot be applied to him, because requiring him to report that he lost firearms he was prohibited from having would clearly be forcing him to incriminate himself, and thus be a gross violation of his Fifth Amendment rights. In other words, not only would this bill make criminals out of crime victims, it would also be specifically inapplicable to many criminals. All you have to do to be exempt from this legislation is to own your guns illegally.

This is what I call some Looney legislation.