More than 51,000 assault rifles registered in state

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Someone in Connecticut owns 179 assault rifles, but if he’s your neighbor, you may never know.

Another state resident has 175 of the semi-automatic rifles that can fire 30 rounds in 15 seconds, like the gun Adam Lanza used to kill 20 first graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

A third firearms enthusiast keeps nearly 544,000 high-capacity magazines.

In fact, according to a Hearst Connecticut Media investigation into registration records, there were 51,763 assault weapons in private hands statewide at the end of August — enough to equip an army. In addition, 40,491 residents filed paperwork showing they owned ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 bullets.

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Walmart’s announcement changes gun conversation

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Two years after Connecticut banned the sale of military-style weapons following the Sandy Hook Elementary School slaughter, Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, has concluded they’re not good for business.

The massive chain is pulling AR-15s and other semi-automatic rifles off its store shelves, citing dwindling sales, and sending a national message that the firepower is more than consumers may really need to protect themselves or to take target shooting.

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Study: Gun-permit law cut homicides 40 percent

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WASHINGTON — A study of Connecticut homicide rates going back to the mid-1980s concludes that the state’s 1995 permit-to-purchase gun law cut handgun-related homicides by 40 percent.

The study by Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, a part of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, found there were 296 fewer gun deaths in the 10 years after the law’s passage than would have occurred had it not been approved.

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