US state seeks to ban arms sales to terror suspects

The state of Connecticut announced plans on Thursday to ban sales of weapons to terror suspects, in what would be the first such measure in the United States as it seeks to fight a scourge of gun violence.

"Like all Americans, I have been horrified by the recent terrorist attacks in San Bernardino and Paris," Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy said in a statement.

"They have been and should be a wakeup call to our nation. I am taking this common-sense step with this executive order simply because it's the right thing to do. It's the smart thing to do."

Under the executive order, suspects on government watch lists will be denied firearm permits.

State police already perform background checks on those seeking permits to purchase guns in Connecticut, the scene of a bloody massacre at a school in Newtown three years ago.

Malloy now wants police to collect the names of those seeking to obtain a permit against government terror watchlists.

But in order to do so, the governor of Connecticut, which has some of the most restrictive gun-control laws in the United States, needs approval from federal authorities.

Malloy cited FBI data showing that people on terror watchlists tried to purchase firearms and explosives 2,233 times between 2004 and 2014.

In more than 90 percent of those cases they succeeded.

Not surprisingly, according to the Washington Post, states with Republican leaders tend to limit gun control, and vice-versa for states with Democratic leaders.

But it's far from definitive as to whether strict state gun laws reduce gun violence, including mass shootings, the Post reported. Some studies and analyses seem to bear out that stricter gun laws mean fewer deaths, Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler wrote, but the results are inconclusive and subjective.

The perennial US gun control debate was revived after last week's deadly mass shooting in San Bernardino, California by a Muslim husband and wife said to have been radicalised. The couple shot 14 people dead before being killed by police.

California has the strictest gun control laws in the United States, according to data from the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a nonprofit group that supports gun control.