How do the New England states compare on gun control legislation?

The slaughter of 19 children at a Texas elementary school has put gun violence and how to solve it into the national spotlight again.

Following shootings in Southern California, Buffalo, Texas and elsewhere, politicians and gun control advocates have publicly said they are not optimistic the slayings will prompt new state or federal regulations.

That’s unacceptable, advocates argue, because of the ways political power and lobbying have long stonewalled such efforts. It’s “why nothing has really substantially and meaningfully happened,” Nicole Hockley told MSBNBC Wednesday.

Hockley co-founded the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation after her son, Dylan, was among the 20 children and six staff members shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.

There have been 213 mass shootings in the United States in 145 days this year, according to Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks gun violence incidents in the United States. Ten were mass killings, including the racially motivated attack in a Buffalo supermarket on May 14 and the May 24 Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting.

Gun laws vary from state to state in New England, from New Hampshire’s limited controls to some of the most stringent restrictions in the country in Massachusetts.

Here’s how each New England state regulates firearms.

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Connecticut gun laws

Connecticut has the fifth-strongest gun laws in the country, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit gun violence prevention and awareness organization.

The state requires background checks and permits, but has no waiting period for gun buyers. The state has red flag laws and mechanisms for law enforcement and families to petition courts to temporarily restrict a person’s access to guns.

Residents must be at least 21 years old to buy a handgun.

Connecticut and Massachusetts are the only New England states that allow local officials to pass their own firearms-related public safety laws.

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“Connecticut continues to be a leader in preventing gun violence, including with a best-in-class gun removal program and new law limiting qualified immunity for police who abuse civilians,” Everytown for Gun Safety wrote on its page on Connecticut’s laws.

A bipartisan group of Connecticut legislators quickly enacted new gun violence legislation after the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, expanding its bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and strengthening background check requirements.

Additional gun control measures stalled this year in the Democratic-led General Assembly, in large part because of a short legislative session and threats by Republicans to hold up legislation through a filibuster.

Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont said Wednesday he’s uncertain whether he will call a special session on the bills. The measures would put limits on bulk purchases of firearms and require the registration of so-called ghost guns, untraceable firearms that can be assembled at home.

“I think it’s become an incredibly partisan argument right now in our society,” Lamont said. “It wasn’t that way, you know, 30, 40 years ago. So that is disturbing, even in a state like Connecticut, where after Sandy Hook we had strong bipartisan support.”

Massachusetts gun laws

Massachusetts is one of the only states to bar gun purchases by people with outstanding warrants and to require secure storage for any firearm not in the owner’s immediate control, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, which ranks Massachusetts’ gun laws the fourth strongest in the country.

In addition to requiring background checks and all gun buyers to obtain a license, Massachusetts also requires sellers to get a state dealer license. Unlicensed sellers are allowed to transfer ownership of up to four guns per year, and the state records all sales.

Many assault weapons, large-capacity magazines and silencers are banned in Massachusetts, although .50 caliber rifles are legal.

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Residents must be 21 years old to purchase a handgun or high-capacity weapon. Eighteen is the minimum age for ammunition and other firearms.

Massachusetts and Connecticut are the only New England states that allow local officials to pass their own firearms-related public safety laws.

Massachusetts doesn't have a waiting period on gun purchases or restrict the number of firearms a buyer can legally purchase at one time.

“This is one of the basic functions of government, keeping people safe," U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, said after the May 24 Uvalde massacre, as reported by the Boston Globe. "And I get it, we’ll never be able to keep everyone 100 percent safe. But we can do better for our babies than we are doing right now.”

Maine gun laws

Maine doesn’t require background checks prior to private gun sales, doesn’t mandate that gun sellers or buyers obtain state licenses and doesn’t require firearms owners to register their weapons.

Assault weapons, .50 caliber rifles and large-capacity magazines are legal in Maine.

Maine ranks 26th overall on Everytown for Gun Safety’s rankings and is the highest-ranked state that doesn’t require concealed carry permits. Maine’s House of Representatives passed permitless carry legislation in 2015.

Cities and towns in Maine don’t have the legal authority to regulate guns at the local level.

In Maine, there is no waiting period for gun purchases or limits on the number of guns that can be bought at one time.

“Despite 90% of gun deaths in the state being the result of suicide, the Pine Tree State lacks most basic laws that would help reduce suicide, including background checks for all gun sales, a standard Extreme Risk law, and waiting periods,” Everytown for Gun Safety wrote on its page on Maine’s gun laws.

New Hampshire gun laws

New Hampshire is New England’s most lenient state when it comes to gun regulation and fourth most lenient in the country, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.

The state doesn’t require gun owners to get a license or register their weapons.

It's one of 24 states that allows people to carry concealed weapons without a permit.

Assault weapons, large-capacity magazines and .50 caliber rifles are legal in New Hampshire.

Granite State handgun dealers are required to get a state license, but the state doesn’t require a state license to sell rifles and shotguns.

There is no requirement for a background check in private gun sales in New Hampshire.

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New Hampshire performs its own background checks for handgun sales from licensed sellers, whereas other states tap the FBI. In performing those background checks, the state has access to both state and federal databases.

A bill has passed New Hampshire’s House and Senate this year that would prohibit any and all federal gun laws from being enforced in the Granite State if they are inconsistent with the state’s laws.

Rep. Bob Lynn of Windham, a Republican backer of the bill, reportedly told New Hampshire Public Radio on May 25, one day after the Uvalde shooting, that Democrat-backed gun controls wouldn’t stop mass shootings.

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“I think the answer to things like this, to the extent there is an answer, and I’m not saying there is any kind of panacea, much more involves mental health-type issues than the gun issue, itself,” Lynn reportedly said.

New Hampshire and the 12 other states at the bottom of Everytown for Gun Safety's rankings have nearly three times as many gun deaths per capita as the eight states with the most stringent laws, according to the organization.

Rhode Island gun laws

Rhode Island has the 12th-strongest gun control laws in the country, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.

The Ocean State requires background checks for private gun sales, has red flag mechanisms to remove guns from people deemed to be a threat to themselves or others, and prohibits ghost guns.

It imposes a seven-day waiting period on all gun sales, but firearms owners are not required to register their weapons. There is no limit on the number of guns a person can buy at one time.

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State law allows residents to openly carry loaded rifles in public. Eighteen-year-olds are also legally allowed to purchase long guns and ammunition, while handguns are only available to buyers over the age of 21.

Rhode Island has passed restrictions in recent years that include measures to ban firearms from school grounds and close the “straw purchasing” loophole that had allowed people to buy guns for someone else.

Bills that would have banned assault weapons and high-capacity magazines are pending. Previous versions haven’t made it out of legislative committees, where politicians cited support for the Second Amendment while blocking those bills from advancing.

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Gov. Daniel McKee, a Democrat, voiced support for the assault weapon and high-capacity magazine bans in a statement after the May 24 shooting in Uvalde.

“We need action now, here in Rhode Island and in our nation’s capital,” he said.

Vermont gun laws

Vermont requires background checks for gun transactions, has red flag laws and bans guns in K-12 schools.

Vermont ranks 22nd in the country for gun law strength in part because it’s the only New England state without a secure storage law and has never required a permit to carry a concealed firearm, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.

That ranking is despite the fact that Vermont has implemented several new gun control measures in recent years.

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In 2018, Vermont banned the purchase of rifle magazines that hold more than 10 rounds or pistol magazines that hold more than 15 rounds. It also banned bump stocks and prohibited anyone under the age of 21 from buying a gun in Vermont unless they can show they’ve completed a hunter safety course.

While signing the package of bills during his first term as governor, Republican Phil Scott said he felt compelled to “choose action over inaction, doing something over doing nothing, knowing there will always be more work to do.”

"I understand I may lose support over the decision to sign these bills today, but those are consequences I am prepared to live with," Scott said during a signing ceremony in which he was met with jeers and angry shouts.

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A new bill signed in March will lengthen the state’s waiting period from three days to seven days once it takes effect July 1.

The bill will also allow a judge to order Vermonters suspected of abuse and subject to a "relief from abuse order" to immediately relinquish all firearms in their possession and refrain from purchasing other firearms until the order expires.

Material from the Associated Press and USA TODAY was used in this report.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Which New England states have the strictest gun control laws?