Connecticut is one step from joining a growing number of states that make it more difficult for straw buyers to elude punishment for their crimes. Both houses of Connecticut’s legislature have now passed a bill that would require the owner of a lost or stolen firearm to file a police report. Governor Jodi Rell should sign the bill.

Beyond the obvious benefit of giving law enforcement a better chance of recovering stolen firearms, laws of this type are an important step in combating gun trafficking. Thanks to investigations by local and Federal law enforcement, we know many of the ways that gun traffickers sidestep the law. Straw buyers and traffickers often hide behind the lie that a gun was “lost� or “stolen� after it was resold illegally and later used in a crime. Taking away a refuge of criminals and gun traffickers is always in the public’s best interest.

Similar measures are pending in California, Illinois, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Similar laws are already on the books in New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio and Rhode Island. This is a common-sense measure that should be enacted in every state, despite the reflexive opposition of some voices in the gun lobby, which have yet to articulate a meaningful argument against the law. Our legal system should be in the business of punishing those who supply guns to criminals, and this law does exactly that.