WEST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) Connecticut Congressman John Larson says failure to overhaul federal gun laws will make elected officials complicit in more gun violence.

The Democratic congressman said at a gun violence forum in West Hartford over the weekend that policy must be changed regulating how the mentally ill are treated.

A gunman shot his way into a Newtown elementary school, killing 20 children and six adults. The killings on December 14 prompted a renewed debate nationwide over gun control.

The New Haven Register reports that Larson's forum was occasionally contentious, with some booing those who opposed expanding gun control provisions.

Ed Peruta, director of a pro-gun group, Connecticut Carry, suggested that laws should be changed so gun-related crimes would go to federal court rather than state court. He says that might avoid plea bargains in state.