Community Corner

Council Members Not All in Agreement With Town Manager on Gun Control

Cheshire Town Manager Michael Milone voted in favor of 13 proposals to ban certain guns and restrict gun ownership last week, but not every Cheshire Town Council member is in favor of the vote.

Cheshire Town Council members are concerned that a recent vote in favor of gun control by Town Manager Michael Milone at the Connecticut Conference of Municipatlies does not represent the wishes of the community.

In an article published by the Cheshire Citizen, several town councilors chastised his decision to vote in favor of a 13-step policy that would both ban certain types of guns by adapting California's definition of assault weapons in Connecticut and restrict gun ownership in the state.

Cheshire is is the bottom third of the state by percentage of pistol permits and ranks sixth from last in New Haven County, but council members indicated that gun ownership is not representative of how the community feels about gun control.

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According to the Cheshire Citizen, council members believed that Milone should have abstained from voting on the issue:

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“In a case like this the council should be privy to any vote cast on their behalf,” said Cheshire Town Council Chairman Tim Slocum, a Republican. “It’s a controversial subject. There’s a lot of knee-jerk reaction going on right now.”

Milone himself indicated that he would have abstained if he had a chance to vote again, but said that the .

Still others, including Councilman Peter Talbot said votes like this are what Milone was hired to do and he does not see it as an endorsement of the people, but of the local government.

What's your take? Should Milone have taken part in the vote? Would you rather have seen him abstain? Tell us your thoughts.

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