Over the past week, strict gun laws in Connecticut have been repeatedly touted on CNN as an example to be enacted nationally, with New Day host Alisyn Camerota pushing the laws the most frequently. The simplistic narrative has been promoted that there has been a "direct correlation" between the passage of new gun control in 2013 and lower numbers of homicides and violent incidents seen in the state the years since.
But no mention has been made of the fact that two of the three most populous cities in Connecticut experienced a doubling of homicides in 2017 meaning that, after the numbers for the entire state are tallied, there will likely be a substantial increase in the state's total number of homicides from the previous year's levels. Additionally, after being misinformed by one of her guests, Camerota repeatedly tried to credit the passage of Connecticut's Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) provision for reducing the number of gun deaths since the Sandy Hook shootings in 2012 even though the procedure was actually made law 13 years earlier in 1999 and still failed to prevent the Newtown attacks.
Additionally, on Wednesday's New Day, host Chris Cuomo provided an unchallenged forum for Connecticut Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy to accuse Republicans of having "blood on their hands" and to promote his state's strict gun laws.
On the Friday, February 16, show, while interviewing Nicole Hockley of the gun control group, Sandy Hook Promise, Camerota recalled the laws that were passed in Connecticut in 2013 and enthused: "And that's helped. Gun violence has gone down in Connecticut."
After Hockley incorrectly claimed that the ERPO provision was passed after Sandy Hook when, in fact, it was already in effect more than a decade before the Newtown shootings, Camerota excitedly followed up: "It works. I mean, that's the message to tell to politicians and anybody who thinks, 'Well, there's nothing we can do.'"
A bit later on the same show, during a segment with gun control activist Andy Parker, Camerota repeated the point: "She said it is that very thing --the ERPO -- that has kept gun violence down in Connecticut after that."
On the February 19 show, Camerota unequivocally claimed that there is a "direct correlation" between the Connecticut law and gun deaths: "When they passed more strict gun laws, gun deaths went down in Connecticut. There is a direct correlation." She later declared that Connecticut "can be a role model for what they did."
And on Wednesday, February 21, the CNN host again gushed over Connecticut's gun laws: "Connecticut did make changes, and guess what: Gun violence and fatalities went down, and Connecticut has paved the way on that one."
Also on Wednesday's show, Cuomo brought aboard Governor Malloy and, without challenge, brought up his incendiary rhetoric against Republicans: "Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy says President Trump and Republicans have blood on their hands after the deadly massacre in Florida. He is now challenging lawmakers in Washington to get tough when it comes to gun control."
Without mentioning the fluctuations up and down, Malloy asserted that there had been a "precipitous drop in homicides" in his state over the past several years. In fact, there was a substantial increase in 2015, followed by a drop, followed by, it appears, another increase.
