In a somber State of the State address, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy Wednesday promised to take actions aimed at preventing a similar tragedy from happening again, reports the Hartford Courant. With officials from Newtown in attendance, Malloy, a Democrat, said the state would pursue gun control, school safety and mental health measures in response to the Dec. 14 shooting, which left 20 children and 6 educators dead. He did not unveil specific proposals, but members of both parties said after his speech that they expected to have the first parts of bipartisan gun control legislation ready to be approved by the end of February.
“When it comes to preventing future acts of violence in our schools, let me say this: more guns are not the answer,” Malloy said in his third State of the State address since being elected in 2010. “Freedom is not a handgun on the hip of every teacher, and security should not mean a guard posted outside every classroom. That is not who we are in Connecticut, and it is not who we will allow ourselves to become.” The state's legislative leadership met on Wednesday to begin researching gun-control legislation.