Blumenthal aims to take state gun law nationwide

Sen. Richard Blumenthal wants to take a Connecticut gun control law nationwide, but the prospects in Congress look dim.
The proposed law is named after Lori Jackson, an Oxford woman whose husband murdered her even though she had a temporary restraining order against him.
Because Jackson only had a temporary order, her husband Scott was still able to buy a gun.
Jackson's mother, Merry Jackson -- who was also shot, got the state to change the law after her daughter’s murder.
Someone named in a temporary protective order must immediately surrender their guns — and cannot buy new ones — until a judge holds a hearing. That must take place within days. Critics note that nearly a third of temporary orders are rejected by judges.
"If we could save a life, it would mean so much to me because you don't realize what a family goes through when something like this happens," Jackson said. "It doesn't go away."
Sen. Blumenthal will once again try to take that law national with advocates pushing Congress Monday to do so.
"The time of greatest rage and potential violence is when a husband, a significant other, a boyfriend, is told that she's leaving," Blumenthal says.
Blumenthal has tried to pass this law before, but with Republicans controlling the Senate, prospects look dim.
"If you could just go to the state of Rhode Island, less than two hours away and buy a weapon, it's really not offering the spectrum of protection that we would view as so critical," said Karen Jarmoc of the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Holly Sullivan -- who is with the state's largest gun owners' group, Connecticut Citizens Defense League -- argues the law could be used to disarm women trying to protect themselves.
"For 20 million American women, we do choose to arm ourselves. A week without our firearm? That could be the difference between life or death," she said.
It’s not clear how many guns have been seized because of the law.