On Monday night, the Judiciary Committee of the CT General Assembly voted to pass HB 5054, an important bill whose purpose is to protect victims of Domestic Violence. The bill will require domestic abusers to surrender any firearms owned or possessed within twenty-four hours of service of a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO), pending a hearing to be held within fourteen days.  Passage of this bill is critical because presence of a firearm in an abusive relationship makes it five times more likely for the abuse victim to be killed.

Passing an important bill such as this takes the work of many. Thank you to all of you who have contacted your legislators, and in particular those of you whose legislators sit on the Judiciary Committee. Your advocacy played a substantial role in securing this vote.

Our next step will be to work to tell our legislators that we want HB 5054 to move to the floor for a full vote of the House and Senate membership before the session ends on May 4th. The bill will become law following a favorable floor vote.

We’ll be asking you soon to take further measures to make that happen, but for right now, let’s enjoy this important victory.

Thank you for your good work!