Courtney Statement on Governor Lamont’s Announced Cancellation of Purchase of Land for Griswold Gun Range

Norwich, CT – Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02) released the following statement after today's announcement by Governor Ned Lamont that the Connecticut Department of Administrative Services has officially terminated a purchase sale agreement for a 113-acre plot of land in Griswold that had previously been proposed as the site for a Connecticut State Police Gun Range.

"Today's announcement from Governor Lamont makes it official: Griswold will not be the site of a new State Police gun range," said Congressman Courtney. "The people of Griswold, from local citizens to municipal leaders, have resisted this move at every opportunity over the last three years. Since 2015, I have encouraged the Department of Administrative Services to find alternatives to this misguided plan and the Governor's announcement today finally allows the state to explore more effective options. Governor Lamont made the right call for the people of Griswold today."

Congressman Courtney has been a vocal opponent of plans to locate a new state policy training facility in eastern Connecticut. Below is a sample of this efforts:

• November 13, 2015 – in a letter to Connecticut Department of Administrative Services Commissioner Melody Currey, I urged DAS to "consider the potential use of existing firing ranges and training sites in Connecticut before moving forward on … a new training center." /media-center/press-releases/courtney-calls-review-alternatives-willington-firing-range
• May 2, 2016 – in a letter to Commissioner Currey, Courtney again urged that the agency take "a fresh look at the options available to the state."
• June 2, 2016 – Courtney urged that DAS set aside the push for a new facility as the only option for meeting the training needs of our troopers and bring in in an outside consultant to evaluate alternatives.
• March 6, 2018 – Courtney submitted testimony to the Public Safety and Security Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly for a hearing on the subject outlining his efforts to encourage the State of Connecticut to take a new look at the proposal and look at alternatives. /media-center/press-releases/courtney-releases-testimony-opposing-griswold-gun-range
• July 4 2018 – Met with then-candidate Ned Lamont to brief him on the many arguments opposed to the Griswold site. Later that month, Lamont toured the Pachaug Forest area and publicly announced his opposition to Griswold as location of the range.