A federal judge in Hartford Thursday dismissed a constitutional challenge to the sweeping gun-control legislation passed in Connecticut after the Sandy Hook School massacre.

Gun owners challenged the law on several fronts, including what the state called "an absolutist" Second Amendment claim that the possession of types of semiautomatic rifles and large-capacity magazines banned under the law was a constitutionally guaranteed right.

"The court concludes that the legislation is constitutional," wrote Senior U.S. District Judge Alfred V. Covello. "While the act burdens the plaintiffs' Second Amendment rights, it is substantially related to the important governmental interest of public safety and crime control."

Covello, a former state Supreme Court justice appointed to the federal bench by President George H.W. Bush in 1992, also rejected claims that the law violated equal-protection rights and that it was impermissibly vague.

(This story originally appeared at CTMirror.org, the website of The Connecticut Mirror, an independent, non-profit news organization covering government, politics, and public policy in the state.)