HARTFORD (AP) — An increase in the number of newly trained state and local police officers, reestablishment of a gun task force and changes to some existing state gun laws are among the proposals Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont unveiled Monday in a legislative package aimed at combatting gun violence.

While the Democrat stressed that Connecticut “is one of the safest states in the country,” Lamont acknowledged being “shocked” during his time in office by the large number of guns in the state.

“We have more legal guns. We have more illegal guns,” Lamont said during a news conference at the state Capitol. “More guns on the street, more guns in the home means more gun violence and we’re suffering from that gun violence."

He added: “You’re not tough on crime if you're weak on guns."

The unveiling of Lamont's legislative package comes as the General Assembly prepares to convene on Wednesday for a new session. Republicans, the minority party, have been calling for new legislation to address car thefts and other crimes, especially those involving juvenile offenders. Some legislative Democrats, however, maintain crime in Connecticut remains at near decades-long lows and there's been a pandemic-driven uptick in certain criminal activity that all states have experienced.

In a joint statement, Republican Reps. Craig Fishbein and Greg Howard, the ranking House Republicans on the Judiciary and Public Safety committees respectively, accused the governor of choosing an “aged election-year tactic of attacking law-abiding gun owners in an effort to distract from his administration's utter failure to address criminal justice policies" that have put police in a bad light and made criminals out to be victims.

“Everyone in Connecticut needs only answer one question to understand: Am I safer today, in my own driveway, than I was before Governor Lamont took office? I hardly think that anyone in Connecticut believes that they are,” the two lawmakers said in a written statement.

Lamont’s package of proposals is varied, ranging from an update to the state’s existing safe gun storage law to an effort to clear backlogs of cases in court. Following are some of the highlights:

— Doubling the number of police trained annually in Connecticut and providing $2.5 million to local police departments to help them hire additional officers.

— Provide $2.5 million to help probation officers reduce recidivism among adults and juvenile offenders.

— Use Medicaid funds to reimburse violence intervention programs in hospitals. Lamont also proposed spending $3.5 million in federal funds to create a statewide community violence intervention program.

— Require untraceable pre-2019 “ghost guns” to be registered. They were previously grandfathered from the state's current ban on ghost guns. Lamont also proposed a new state license for all gun dealers; a new law that automatically disqualifies anyone convicted of a family violence crime from holding a state gun permit; and an expanded assault weapons ban that includes guns manufactured before 1993.

— Providing additional funding for mobile crime labs that can provide rapid forensic science analysis, including DNA analysis.