Connecticut bans assault weapons.

Connecticut has become the third state, following California and New Jersey, to pass a comprehensive ban on assault weapons. Hawaii prohibits assault pistols, but not rifles.

Supporters of the new Connecticut law, which lists specific weapons, say it is a reasonable limitation on the right to bear arms, tempered by public safety needs. They believe it will help curb urban crime. Opponents contend that it affects only law-abiding gun owners and fails to address the real source of crime, which is criminals.

Even the term "assault weapon"--which advocates consider an anti-firearms buzzword--is much in dispute, partly because there is no clear-cut definition. It can include certain handguns and shotguns but is often used to describe semiautomatic firearms with large-capacity ammunition clips.

Though comprehensive bans do not generally have broad-based support, the bill's trip through the General Assembly was particularly arduous since the Colt Sporter, manufactured in Connecticut, was included with more than 50 other guns.

The bill's main sponsor, Senator George C. Jepsen, admitted surprise that the legislation survived seven one-vote margins, requiring Lieutenant Governor Eunice Groark's vote to break the final 18-18 Senate tie. Governor Lowell Weicker signed the bill into law within hours of its June passage.

Owners of guns now banned do not have to relinquish their firearms, but must register them and obtain a certificate stating they were purchased before Oct. 1, 1993, the date the law takes effect.

Adding the Sporter, Colt's best-selling rifle, to the list of prohibited weapons was expected by opponents to help sound the death knell for the bill. The state had come to Colt's rescue...