CONECT makes strides in effort to stop gun violence

By Nick Solari

Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut (CONECT), a New Haven-based multi-faith organization committed to fighting for social and economic justice, has recently stepped up its campaign against gun violence.

The campaign’s first component, which deals specifically with gun manufacturers, was addressed in CONECT’s assembly meeting on Jan. 20. The meeting was attended by 650 people from member congregations and featured Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy.

The campaign is called “Do Not Stand Idly By,” which was taken from Leviticus 19:16 (“Do not stand idly by while the blood of your neighbor is shed.”).

“Do Not Stand Idly By” focuses on urging gun manufacturers to keep firearms out of the hands of gun stores that sell weapons to criminals, said CONECT lead organizer Matt McDermott.

According to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), approximately 57 percent of the firearms involved in crimes trace back to 1 percent of the nation’s gun stores.

“We’ve been working to get gun manufacturers to play ball as it pertains to tightening their own distribution systems to prevent gun dealers from selling weapons to criminals,” McDermott said. “It’s a small fraction of gun dealers that actually sell to criminals, so we think it should not be difficult for the manufacturers to crack down on the handful of bad-actor gun dealers that create a lion share of the problem.”

CONECT has also pushed to have smart-technology attached to guns. The goal is to get manufacturers to “play ball,” according to McDermott.

“We don’t want to push too soon to say public purchasers should buy smart guns. We know these things have to be tested and 100 percent reliable before we’d push for a police department to get them,” he said.

McDermott said CONECT feels the government has significant leverage in the situation. The public tax dollar purchases of guns, he said, adds up to roughly 40 percent of all revenue for gun producers.

“If the purchasers were demanding, you’d have significant leverage to get manufacturers to take these issues seriously,” McDermott said. “That’s the strategy we’ve been working on.”

Recently, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) praised CONECT’s initiative on gun safety.

“I was really proud to stand with [President Obama] earlier this year in his new executive order, and I hope that you’re proud that many of the ideas that you’ve been on the forefront of, fighting for, like pressuring out gun manufacturers to make guns safer, were elements of his executive order,” Murphy said.

In a recorded video posted on CONECT’s Facebook page, Murphy said he has been trying to convince his colleagues to act.

“I couldn’t be more committed to working with you on the path ahead to reduce gun violence,” Murphy added.

McDermott said CONECT and sister organizations have gotten 83 municipalities or jurisdictions to sign on, claiming that the next time they produce weapons they will ask “serious questions” to ensure guns are getting in the right hands.

“We want to get gun companies to talk about their practices,” McDermott said. “We can encourage gun companies to be models, to be responsible in these areas.”

Nick Solari is a senior journalism major at Quinnipiac University. He is writing about religion this spring. He can be reached at nicholas.solari@quinnipiac.edu.

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Connecticut aims to end chronic homelessness

The state of Connecticut is on track to end chronic homelessness by the end of the calendar year, according to homeless shelter directors.

“That’s the next big push that we’re under now,” Executive Director of the shelter Columbus House Alison Cunningham said. “Every day looking at the numbers, seeing where the gaps are, where do we need the resources to make sure we’re getting people out very quickly and housed?”

Alison Cunningham, executive director of Columbus House

A person is considered chronically homeless if he or she lives with some sort of disability and has been consistently homeless for a year or has had multiple episodes of homelessness that equal 12 months, Cunningham said.

The state plans to eliminate chronic homelessness in a similar way to how the state ended homelessness among veterans: by having organizations and officials coordinate their efforts.

Connecticut became the second state to end homelessness among veterans, Gov. Dannel Malloy announced earlier last month, by developing ways for organizations across New Haven and the state to work together.

“This milestone is a major one – we have been a national leader on so many issues and today is yet another reflection,” Malloy said in a statement on Feb. 18. “We have a responsibility to take care of our veterans, to ensure that veterans have access to housing, quality health care, education, and career opportunities.  We’re proud to have achieved this ambitious goal.”

Cunningham said she is proud her organization’s role in this achievement.

“We’re really excited about that,” she said. “It’s going to make a huge difference in the lives of these folks.”

Columbus House in New Haven

But Cunningham said this does not mean veteran homelessness is eradicated forever.

“We’re not naïve enough to think that nobody will ever be homeless again, we know that it will happen,” she said. “But over the past two years, we’ve had massive restructuring of the systems that address the issue of homelessness, and there’s been a huge effort at coordinating our efforts in a way that makes a person’s homelessness a very brief amount of time.”

All of the homeless shelters and organizations in the state work together to make sure veterans find housing right away, Cunningham said. As soon as a veteran arrives at a shelter, Veterans Affairs is notified and the person is put in bridge housing, she said. Bridge housing is different from a shelter and is where people stay before they are put into permanent housing within 90 days.

“The system moves rapidly to get him into housing and along the way we’re beginning to address whatever issues there are,” she said. “But he’s going to be in housing, [have access to] the services attached and those services will continue to help the veteran deal with whatever it is, whether it’s income, security, employment, PTSD, mental health.”

John Bradley, the executive director of the homeless shelter Liberty Community Services in New Haven, said increased funding from the federal government, in particular the Department of Veterans Affairs also contributed to ending veteran homelessness.

“[The Department of Veterans Affairs] really kind of looked at what worked, made sure it was funding what worked and made sure that it increased the funding so that no veteran was homeless,” Bradley said. “And then the agencies and the communities were the ones who were responsible for the implementation of that.”

The state is receiving national praise for its work to end homelessness for veterans. First Lady Michelle Obama thanked Malloy for Connecticut’s work in a letter.

“As we discussed at the President’s State of the Union Address, I want to thank you and the people of Connecticut for your determined efforts on behalf of our military families,” Obama wrote. “I am so proud of your state’s commitment and resolve to reach this milestone, and I am grateful for all you have done for America’s heroes.”

However, Bradley said he sees an end to homelessness for all people in sight.

“I think the kind of promising thing about homelessness is that easily we have the ability to end it,” he said. “I do believe we have the tools. We need more funding and more coordination, but it’s definitely a problem that I think we can make significant improvement in.”

Julia Perkins is a senior journalism major at Quinnipiac University and is editor-in-chief of The Quinnipiac Chronicle. She is writing about poverty and income inequality this spring. She can be reached at julia.perkins@quinnipiac.edu.