Sen. Somers and Rep. Skulczyck Stand Against Proposed Griswold Gun Range

HARTFORD, Conn. – Today State Senator Heather Somers (R-Groton) and State Representative Kevin Skulczyck (R-Griswold)released the following statement regarding proposals to place a gun range in the town of Griswold.

“For the past few years there have been proposals to locate the new Connecticut State Police gun range in the town of Griswold,” said Sen. Somers. “This proposal would develop a state of the art gun range and training complex in the middle of a rural town bordering a State Forest full of natural beauty, rich history and deep community roots. While I appreciate the need for our State Police to have an adequate training facility there should be more research and a completely open and transparent process to properly determine the best location for this new facility. That is why I will be supporting legislation this session that would require the Department of Emergency Services to conduct a study to appropriately identify a solution for our State Police training needs.”

House Bill 5304, An Act Concerning the Firearm Training Needs of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, would require The Department of Emergency Services in consultation with the Department of Administrative Services to conduct a study to identify a suitable replacement for the firearms training facility located in Simsbury in order to meet the firearms training needs.

“It is unacceptable that a town is selected without a fair and open process and with complete disregard for the will of the residents,” said Sen. Somers. “A new facility will cost millions of dollars and the state should do its due diligence to find the most cost effective and agreeable solution. This bill will demand that necessary research and background information is established and verified before a massive training facility is forced onto local residents – no matter which town.”

The bill will come before the Public Safety and Security Committee for a public hearing on Tuesday, March 6 at 11:00 a.m. in Room 2B of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.

“This public hearing has been a long time coming. Senator Somers and I have worked extremely hard to ensure your voices are heard in either support or opposition to the gun range being placed in Griswold. I would like to suggest that any people interested in speaking out to please send in written testimony or come up on March 6^th to personally testify on the proposed project. This is our opportunity once and for all to be heard, so Griswold let’s not be quiet on this one,” Rep. Skulczyck said.