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Last week, Connecticut lawmakers passed the “Homeless Person’s Bill Of Rights” at the literal 11th hour — 11:30pm on June 5th, one half hour before the legislative session ended. The bill, SB 896, a landmark piece of legislation to protect homeless individuals’ rights, adds homeless people as a protected class who can’t be discriminated against in employment, housing, or public accommodations. It also includes protections for homeless people to move freely in public spaces, such as parks and sidewalks, without being singled out for harassment by law enforcement officers.

Here are the bill’s seven protections:

(1) Move freely in public spaces, including on public sidewalks, in public parks, on public transportation and in public buildings without harassment or intimidation from law enforcement officers in the same manner as other persons;

(2) Have equal opportunities for employment;

(3) Receive emergency medical care;

(4) Register to vote and to vote;

(5) Have personal information protected;

(6) Have a reasonable expectation of privacy in his or her personal property; and

(7) Receive equal treatment by state and municipal agencies.

This is no symbolic victory, Michael Stoops, Director of Community Organizing at the National Coalition for the Homeless, explained. “Homeless people are regularly discriminated against in employment and housing,” Stoops told ThinkProgress.

Nate Fox, Project Supervisor for Faces Of Homelessness Connecticut, a group that advocated for the bill, hailed its passage. “Currently, there are certain civil liberties that could be automatically wiped out when you walked into a homeless shelter,” Fox told ThinkProgress. This bill not only fixes that unintended side effect of shelters and other homeless services, it’s also “changed the conversation on how to protect homeless persons’ rights,” Fox said.

The bill now awaits Gov. Dan Malloy’s (D) signature before it can take effect at its scheduled date of October 1, 2013. It will not only play a major role in preventing discrimination against homeless people; it could also have an effect on municipalities like Hartford which currently have anti-loitering and anti-panhandling ordinances.

If it ultimately becomes law, Connecticut will become just the second state in the nation to enact a Homeless Person’s Bill of Rights. Last year, Rhode Island became the first state to do so. Illinois could increase the number to three if Gov. Pat Quinn (D) signs a bill which passed the legislature recently, and other states like Oregon and Delaware are considering similar legislation.

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy (D) tore into the National Rifle Association during an appearance on CNN’s State Of The Union on Sunday. The NRA this week introduced its legislative response to the massacre in Malloy’s home state. Its plan focuses on arming school staff.

Malloy specifically called out NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre for his absolute opposition to commonsense gun regulations, including the new gun law just enacted by Connecticut. After watching a clip of LaPierre mocking Connecticut’s new law, Malloy shot back, “Wayne reminds me of the clowns at the circus. They get the most attention”:

MALLOY: That’s what he’s paid to do. But the reality is is that the gun that was used to kill 26 people on December 14th was legally purchased in the state of Connecticut even though we had an Assault Weapons Ban. But there were loopholes in it that you could drive a truck through. This guy is so out of whack, it’s unbelievable. 92% of the american people want universal background checks. I can’t get on a plane as the Governor of the state of Connecticut without somebody running a background check on me. Why should you be able to buy a gun? Or buy armor-piercing munitions? It doesn’t make any sense. He doesn’t make any sense. Thus my reference to the circus.[...]

Bring it back to reality. Why are they against universal background checks when 92% of the American public is in favor of them? If they can’t answer that question — and they can’t, Candy — What this is about is the ability of the gun industry to sell as many guns to as many people as possible even if they’re deranged, even if they’re mentally ill, evening if they have a criminal background, they don’t care. They want to sell guns.

Watch it:

Malloy then went on to say that there is “precious little” he can agree on with the NRA, and that the organization is coming “pretty darn close” to recommending that every single American carry a gun. He also pointed to a recent report by the Center For American Progress that shows states with weaker gun laws also have the highest rates of gun violence.

On a hillside in Newtown, Conn., art teacher Eric Mueller sets up wooden angels in memory of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting

At 2:26 a.m. on Thursday, after more than 13 hours of debate, the General Assembly of the state of Connecticut — home of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre — passed what’s being called the “toughest” and most “far-reaching” gun legislation in the country. Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) plans to sign the bill into law at noon on Thursday.

Here’s what you need to know about the law:

1. It has bipartisan support. Certainly more Democrats than Republicans supported the bill, but the vote in the state House was 105 to 44, with 40 percent of Republicans and 87 percent of Democrats voting for it. Earlier, the Senate voted with only 2 of the 22 Democrats opposing the law. Nearly half of Connecticut Senate Republicans voted for the measure.

2. It expands the state’s assault weapons ban. Connecticut already has an Assault Weapons Ban in place, but the new law will add over 100 new types of guns to the banned list. Among these is the Bushmaster AR-15 gun, which is what the Sandy Hook gunman used in his horrific killing spree. People who already own such weapons will be permitted to keep them, but must comply with new registration standards.

3. Magazine clips will be limited to 10 rounds. Connecticut’s new law will immediately ban the sale of any large-capacity magazine clips that hold more than 10 rounds. Gun owners who’ve already purchased high-capacity clips will be grandfathered in, but they register any extended clips they have, if they plan to keep them. And they can’t bring those bigger clips around with them; the new law requires that any extended magazines still on the market be used only in a private home or at a shooting range.

4. All gun and ammunition sales will require a background check. Effective immediately, every single sale of a gun or of bullets in the state of Connecticut must include a background check. Universal background checks are probably the most widely supported measure in Connecticut’s new gun law; nationally, background checks have 92 percent support.

5. Mental health isn’t left out of the equation. Not every measure in the new law intends to regulate firearms; the bill also includes expanded funding for mental health research, and allows for greater training on mental health issues for Connecticut’s teachers. The bill also creates a council in the state with the express purpose of determining how schools can be more safe, and when mental health records should block someone from being able to purchase a firearm.

As was the case when both New York and Colorado passed new gun legislation, gun manufacturers are flexing their lobbying muscles by threatening to leave the state, and some firearm owners are mobbing stores to load up on magazines and weapons before the bans go into effect. But these two actions are not symbolic of widespread opposition. In fact, there’s a lot of support for stronger gun laws. Even hunting organizations are in favor of taking legislative action to prevent gun violence. And the benefit of tightening gun laws is clear; on Wednesday, a report released by the Center for American Progress found a link between weak gun laws and high gun violence.

Thursday morning, local police released previously embargoed police records about the Newtown, Connecticut shooter, Adam Lanza. The records disclosed that, in five minutes, Lanza was able to fire 155 shots, partly as a consequence of the numerous 30 round high-capacity magazines he was carrying.

Most of the released documents were search warrants for Lanza’s car and home, which he shared with his gun-collecting mother (the weapons used at Newtown were taken from his mother’s stockpile). Put together, the findings in these warrants paint a disturbing picture of the arsenal available to Lanza:

– 1 NRA certificate for Adam Lanza and 1 NRA training book. Police investigators found a National Rifle Association certificate in Adam Lanza’s name, though the nature of the certificate was unspecified. Police also found a book titled “NRA Guide to the Basics of Pistol Shooting,” a book that’s commonly given out as part of NRA pistol training courses. Graduates of these courses are given certificates.

– 3 new guns. In addition the newly-identified shotgun in his parked car outside (it was a Saiga 12), a search of the Lanza home found an Enfield Albian bolt action rifle and a Savage Mark II .22 rifle. The latter contained live ammunition.

– 4 high capacity magazines, 2 of which were brought loaded to the crime scene. There were two high-capacity shotgun shell magazines for his shotgun at the crime scene, containing a combined 70 extra rounds for the fortunately-unused shotgun. Police also found two 20-round magazines at the Lanza residence.

– Over 1700 rounds of ammunition. These covered a variety of different calibers and gun types, and would have stocked 170 standard 10-round magazines or 56 of the 30-round high capacity magazines Lanza used to such deadly effect in the school.

– 13 types of bladed weapons. The Lanzas didn’t just collect guns; they also had a variety of knives, samurai swords, and one “six foot ten inch wood handled two sided pole with a blade on one side and a spear on the other.”

Though public outcry after the Newtown shooting generated more political momentum for effective gun law regulations than any other time in the past decade, the political effort is in danger of stalling out in the Senate.

NRA President David Keene

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — NRA President David Keene defended lobbyist Bob Welch’s statement that the group would continue weakening gun laws as soon as the “Connecticut effect” had subsided, saying that he had no reason to apologize.

Welch’s comments came last month at the NRA’s Wisconsin State Convention and were first reported by ThinkProgress. Both Connecticut senators, as well as the congresswoman representing Newtown, condemned the remarks and called on the NRA to repudiate them.

ThinkProgress ran into Keene at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday and asked whether he would apologize for the lobbyist’s remarks. “You only apologize for the things that you did,” Keene replied. As Keene’s entourage tried to prevent ThinkProgress from questioning further, we asked whether he thought Welch ought to apologize, the NRA President was candid: “no.”

KEYES: I know Sen. Blumenthal and some others had called on the NRA to apologize for the “Connecticut effect” comment made by the Wisconsin lobbyist.

KEENE: You only apologize for the things that you did.

KEYES: Do you think that he ought to apologize?

KEENE: No.

KEYES: No? Do you think it’s insensitive to the families of Newtown?

KEENE: I think uh…

KEYES: Do you think that it’s insensitive, sir? This isn’t a trick question, I’m honestly asking you.

Watch it:

This is the first time the NRA leadership has directly addressed the controversy, though the group had initially claimed no association with Welch, who represents the NRA’s Wisconsin chapter.

Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-CT)

Over the weekend, lobbyist Bob Welch dismissed the importance of the Newtown massacre, telling an annual Wisconsin NRA meeting that they will be able to continue weakening the nation’s gun laws as soon as the “Connecticut effect” dissipates.

Freshman Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-CT) was not pleased to hear the NRA’s comments:

Having met with families and members of the Newtown community numerous times since December 14, I’ve witnessed this community’s pain and their strength. To suggest that the loss of 20 precious children – the loss of six talented and courageous teachers and administrators – is an ‘effect’ that will somehow disappear is callous, and it is wrong. The tragedy in Newtown has irrevocably changed the lives of people in that community, and it’s been felt across the country. I welcome all perspectives to a reasoned conversation about making our communities and our families safer while respecting the rights of law-abiding gun owners. Yet the statement by a NRA lobbyist is a reminder of the arrogance and political cynicism we’ve seen from the NRA’s leadership. They just don’t get it, and their unwillingness to understand that the tragedy has compelled Americans to act makes them less and less relevant to the conversation.

Esty isn’t the only lawmaker condemning the NRA for its distasteful comments. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) reprimanded the NRA during a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday and in a Huffington Post op-ed, calling the remarks “callous and offensive” and demanding that NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre repudiate them.

The NRA responded to the “Connecticut effect” controversy on Tuesday by claiming no connection to the lobbyist who represents the NRA’s Wisconsin chapter.

On Monday, ThinkProgress broke the story about how NRA lobbyist Bob Welch said the organization will simply wait for the “Connecticut effect” to subside before resuming its push to weaken the nation’s gun laws. Welch’s comments came at the 2013 NRA Wisconsin State Convention over the weekend.

Now, the NRA is attempting to disavow any association with Welch or its Wisconsin chapter. In an email to TPM on Tuesday, the NRA wrote that “Bob Welch is neither a staff lobbyist nor a contract lobbyist for the National Rifle Association. He does not speak for the NRA.”

The NRA’s attempt to claim no association with Welch and its Wisconsin state chapter is laughable. Welch is a registered lobbyist for the Wisconsin NRA group, known as WI-FORCE (Wisconsin Firearm Owners, Ranges, Clubs & Educators), so any association between WI-FORCE and the NRA is an association between Welch and the NRA.

Let’s briefly review whether or not WI-FORCE is connected with the NRA.

WI-FORCE’s website notes that the group is “An NRA Chartered State Association.” Their annual convention last weekend, where Welch’s comments were made, was billed as the “2013 NRA Wisconsin State Convention.” Among the attendees at the event was NRA President David Keene, who sat right next to Welch before the lobbyist’s speech.

The brochure pictured below, which notes that WI-FORCE is the NRA’s 2011 Association of the Year and a National Rifle Association Chartered State Association, even includes a testimonial from Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R): “As the NRA’s chartered State association, Wisconsin FORCE’s support for Constitutional rights of Wisconsinites was helpful as I signed important legislation into law.”

Given how offensive Welch’s comments were, it’s clear why the NRA is trying to confuse the public about its association with its Wisconsin chapter.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) is fighting back over the controversy. The Connecticut senator condemned the comments in a Senate subcommittee hearing and a Huffington Post op-ed.