Beware Of Gun-Toting Lesbians

Tuesday March 25, 2008

Two bills that never even made it to the final agenda of the Judiciary Committee yesterday were the revised civil-unions law and the legislation that would have required gun makers to have firing pins that would etch serial numbers on bullet cartridges.
The co-chairmen of the committee, Rep. Mike Lawlor, D-East Haven, and Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, decided it wasn’t prudent to pursue either bill in the short session of the General Assembly.
The cartridge-etching technology is controversial, as gunmakers claim it’s not a foolproof way to trace a weapon to a crime. They also say it would add up to $200 more per weapon for consumers.
“Our goal this year was to get the discussion going,” Lawlor said over the phone a little while ago.
On the gay-rights legislation, McDonald admitted that the case pending in the state Supreme Court, in which activists claim that the civil-union law is a violation of equal-protection provisisons of the constitution, is problematic.
Though it was heard before the Supremes last May, the high court has yet to rule.
It could throw the issue back to lawmakers, ordering them, like the Massachusetts high court a few years back, to enact a marriage law; uphold the civil-union law as constitutional; or send the whole thing back to the lower court.
So given a chance to punt, the committee did.
Except, quietly nestled in legislation approved by the committee yesterday on probate courts, is a requirement – resulting from complaints of gays and lesbians – that probate judges waive fees for name changes as a result of civil unions.
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