In the wake of Sandy Hook massacre, a sense of duty to prevent further tragedy compelled Connecticut lawmakers to act on guns

HARTFORD, Conn. — As the initial shock and horror of the deaths of 20 young children and six female educators at a Newtown elementary school was still fresh in everyone’s mind, Connecticut’s top legislators decided they needed to do something.

Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle said they owed it to the families to respond with their best attempt to reduce the chances of a similar catastrophe.

“Within 24 hours of the tragedy, I reached out to [Senate Republican leader] John McKinney,” recalled then-Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams, the highest-ranking senator. “At the end of the conversation, we both talked about the need to do something. And ideally if we could do something in a bipartisan way, that would send the most powerful message. As we were working through the tragedy and the grief, we were also thinking about the responsibility of doing something significant.”