Connecticut's Gun Confiscation Law First in Country.

• Position: Brief Article

Connecticut has become the first state in the country to allow police and the courts to confiscate guns from people who are deemed to present a danger to the community.

The law, which took effect in October, is expected to spur debate on similar measures in other states, and it reflects the struggle to deal with seemingly random mass killings, often in public places, that have shocked the nation.

Representative Michael Lawlor drafted the law as a response to a 1998 incident in which a 35-year-old accountant killed four fellow employees at the Connecticut State Lottery before putting the gun to his own head. Lawlor's bill won bipartisan support in the General Assembly, and Governor John Rowland praised the law as "creative and thoughtful, not a bit knee-jerk."

Among other provisions, the Act Concerning Firearm Safety authorizes police officers to confiscate guns from anyone deemed to be an immediate danger to himself or others. The law is the country's first to give police such sweeping powers to enter a home and seize guns.

To initiate a gun seizure, police must pursue reports that the gun owner poses a risk of imminent personal injury to himself or herself or to other individuals." Police are required to examine other means of defusing the threat, such as committing the gun owner to a mental health facility.

A police investigation must...