A public hearing regarding a wide range of criminal justice and gun violence-related reforms Monday showed a clear partisan divide on issues the parties have campaigned on in recent months. 

State Republicans made juvenile crime the party’s marquee issue in the months leading up to the current legislative session. And both Gov. Ned Lamont and top state Democrats have introduced a variety of measures to stem gun violence. 

Among the legislation being considered is Senate Bill 16, proposed by the governor, which would implement new gun control measures. Almost 1,000 people and organizations submitted testimony on SB 16 and other bills. 

Lamont’s bill would establish a gun tracing task force to track the illegal exchange of firearms; limit ghost guns, requiring people with guns without serial numbers to register the guns; ban the carrying of firearms in certain public settings; close loopholes that have essentially been allowing people to own assault weapons despite a ban on them; and introduce statewide licensing for gun dealers. 

But SB 16 isn’t just gun-related. It deals with juvenile justice, as it would increase the maximum of six hours that law enforcement can detain a juvenile to eight hours; make auto theft a “serious offense” for juveniles; require GPS monitoring for juveniles who commit certain repeat offenses; and increase funding for community violence intervention programs, allowing the state to become more involved in local violence intervention efforts. 

Republicans strongly opposed the bill, particularly the proposed gun laws, saying it would infringe on people’s constitutional rights. Rep. Doug Dubitsky, R-Chaplin, asked James Rovella, the commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, whether SB 16 would ban firearms in a greater portion of “the public square.” Rovella answered in the affirmative. 

“Do you know any other constitutional right limited this way?” Dubitsky asked. 

Rep. Craig Fishbein, R-Wallingford, and other Republicans, said they felt new gun laws would only prevent law-abiding citizens from having guns. A significant number of members of the public argued the proposed legislation wouldn’t lead to less violence and instead would inconvenience legal gun owners.

Rovella disagreed. He brought up “instances of protesters or counter-protesters arming themselves and seeking confrontations,” and specifically mentioned the case of Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot and killed two anti-police brutality protesters and wounded another in Wisconsin in 2020. 

“The proposal makes it easier for law enforcement officers to request to see the gun permits of those openly carrying firearms, and bans the carrying of firearms in polling places, public buildings, public transit, and open carrying at demonstrations (such as marches, rallies, vigils, sit-ins, protests, etc.),” Rovella testified. “It allows municipalities to adopt an ordinance specifying that a law enforcement officer may make such a request only if such officer has reasonable suspicion of a crime.” 

Rovella noted that assault weapons “are frequently seen in horrific mass shootings” and “additional safety measures are needed for assault weapons.” He described the loopholes used to get around Connecticut’s assault weapons ban.

“A way in which manufacturers circumvent the law is by creating new models of firearm that are not classified as either a pistol, rifle, or shotgun, and therefore are entirely exempt from the assault weapon ban,” Rovella said in his testimony. “Those dangerous weapons are commonly referred to as ‘others.’ For all intents and purposes, ‘others’ look like and are the functional equivalent of an assault weapon.” 

State Department of Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani expressed support for the state-level community violence intervention program. She said she hoped to “work with local partners on intervention and prevention.” 

“This has been an issue for a very long time,” Juthani said. “This is an office the DPH has but does not have the capacity or funding to be able to do this work.”

Juthani said the American Rescue Plan Act federal funds will be used for the initiative. Susan Logan, director of the injury and violence surveillance unit for the DPH, said the department wants to better fund and support local efforts while figuring out “the patterns and circumstances around violent crime in general.” 

Beyond the influx of federal money, though, funding sources and funding in general for prevention efforts is sparse, Logan said. 

Local actors in New London commented on the governor’s statewide prevention program plan earlier this month, saying that it must work only to supplement local efforts and it must be a sustainable program, not a one-off affair.  

The Community First Coalition, which is convened by The Connecticut Black and Brown Student Union, a coalition of community youth organizations including New London’s Hearing Youth Voices, submitted testimony opposing the Republican juvenile crime reform bill, Senate Bill 365. The group as well as Democratic legislators disagreed with several parts of the bill, one of which would transfer “high-risk repeat” youth offenders to adult court. 

“The campaign to criminalize Black and Brown youth by making it more likely they are treated as adults is one of the ways the school-to-prison pipeline is codified,” the coalition said in its testimony. 

The coalition said it felt the Republican juvenile crime proposals would increase “the likelihood of children being placed in detention facilities.”

“The moral outrage we have for the recommendations that potentially strip Fourth Amendment rights from children so that they can be more easily locked up, even for as little as six hours, is literally unspeakable in this forum,” the coalition said. 

Senate Republican Leader Kevin Kelly of Stratford expressed support for the bill, which contains policies Republicans have been pushing for publicly since the summer of last year. He said of the new adult court policy for repeat offenders, “Instead of trying to establish harsher penalties in juvenile court to reach this small group, which could have an unintended consequence of leading to inappropriate penalties for juveniles facing low- level offenses, we are proposing to move when appropriate high-risk repeat offenders to a court system where there is the proper accountability in place for the severity of the escalating crimes.” 

Some Republican-supported proposals are in Lamont’s bill, and some Democratic-supported proposals related to community programs are in the Republicans’ bill. Members of both parties said they expect criminal justice reform and related measures will be discussed throughout the legislative session.

s.spinella@theday.com