Many communities are struggling with how to find a way to balance the Second Amendment rights claimed by gun owners, with the kinds of safeguards that many on both sides of the issue call “common sense gun control.” Though we rarely hear about policies that are not at the extremes this very sensitive debate in America, Connecticut may have a model to debate and to explore nationally.

      Connecticut’s new gun bill, H B 5448, will, argues Jonathan Perloe, Communications Director for Connecticut Against Gun Violence.Org, close some loopholes in a twenty-year off law already on the books.

     This bill would allow warrants in emergency situations, such as when a gun owner is deemed to be at risk of posing a threat  of harm to him or herself or to others. In that case, the person’s gun can be temporarily removed.

     There are similar laws gaining ascendancy nationwide – these are called, colloquially, “Red Flag” laws.

     Perloe argues that studies have shown that such laws prevent situations that would otherwise turn into mass shooter scenarios. This kind of policy is also supported by advocates for domestic violence victims, who say that abused women are at risk when a gun owner is impaired by alcohol, mental illness, or other temporary  states of mind that disorder judgement and create emergency conditions.