Gun advocacy group wins partial victory in firearms applications lawsuit
By Rob Polansky
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SOUTHBURY, Connecticut (WFSB) — A gun advocacy group announced that it won a partial victory in a lawsuit filed over delays in firearm permit applications.
The Connecticut Citizens Defense League filed the suit against the City of Bridgeport. It claimed the city illegally delayed permit applications.
According to the CCDL, Bridgeport has now changed its practices to allow for a far quicker application process.
Last week, the Bridgeport Police Department contacted Bridgeport residents to whom it previously gave lengthy wait times, and offered them faster dates to submit applications, including later this month.
“Bridgeport’s about-face is clearly the result of CCDL’s lawsuit, and another victory for law abiding citizens across Connecticut,” said Holly Sullivan, CCDL president. “Bridgeport residents have been suffering inordinately long wait times just to apply for a permit. Months ago, we reached out to the city and asked it to bring its permitting system in line with the law, warning that if it did not, CCDL would be forced to take legal action. It is unfortunate that Bridgeport’s continued violations of state law and its residents’ constitutional rights, forced CCDL to file suit. Hopefully, this is a sign that the Bridgeport Police Department will follow the law going forward. However, while it appears lawful Bridgeport residents can now apply for firearms permits in a timely manner, we will be watching how long it takes the city to process those applications, which has also been an ongoing problem there.”
In addition to Bridgeport, the suit also named Hartford, New Haven and Waterbury.
State officials initially said earlier this year that a couple of firearms-related systems were halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One was fingerprinting. The other was the firearm purchase approval system.
They said fingerprinting immediately resumed.
The state told Channel 3 back in January that the approval system was also back up and running.
It also claimed that an unprecedented number of firearm sales in 2020 put a strain on it.
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