by CTSheepdog
On a blustery and cloudy Saturday, thousands of Second Amendment supports came from across Connecticut to mark the first anniversary of the passage of the now infamous Constitution State gun law and, most importantly, to call for its repeal. The rally drew like-minded supporters from nearby New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and others as far away as Virginia, West Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi and even Montana. Capitol police indicated that the crowd exceeded 3,000 attendees while other observers put the total closer to 5,000 at the rally’s peak . . .
Connecticut Citizens’ Defense League (CCDL) sponsored the rally. Scott Wilson, president of the CCDL, told the crowd that Governor Malloy referred to “us all as the fringe of the fringe.” He said the governor told gun owners that they “lost” and should “just get over it”.
“I don’t know about you, but I am only not over it, I am madder than hell,” Wilson said to cheers from the crowd. “Gun control was the fig leaf that concealed their disastrous failures.”
Many attendees exercised their Connecticut right and open carried a myriad of handguns in addition to what was likely many more that were carried concealed. Others openly carried rifles (unloaded of course).
All of the happenings were observed by an respectable showing of the Connecticut State Police who remained in the background during the peaceful gathering. One person was overheard asking the police about all the open carried guns as if he thought multiple felonies were being perpetrated; the po-po corrected his lack of knowledge.
Over the course of the rally, the gathered masses often chanted in unison things like: “We will not comply”, “Stand and fight” and a version of “Freeeedom” that would have made Mel Gibson’s William Wallace proud.
Bill Stevens of Newtown said he was heartbroken when he heard what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School, but “it wasn’t the AR-15 that killed 26 innocent people in my town. It was a mentally ill shooter who pulled the trigger and this law does nothing to address that.”
Governor Dannell Malloy was a frequent target of comments from the speakers as well as chants from the crowd, including a very spirited round of “Malloy must go”. One attendee was even more blunt:
Those who attended the rally included Republican gubernatorial candidates Tom Foley, Martha Dean, and Joe Visconti, all ready supporters of gun owners’ rights. None of them were allowed to speak at the event, but Foley and Dean have addressed the CCDL at their monthly meetings in Middletown.
For those who were unable to attend, the CCDL offered live streaming of the event, which tracked over 4,000 views over the course of the afternoon bringing total real-time engagement to over 7,000.
Meanwhile, speaking of engagement, the related virtual social media rally started by Connecticut Carry was also an outstanding success. Over five days, Connecticut Chooses Liberty garnered active support from 2,426 who helped to sent out the same message to over 907,000 social media contacts:
Rich Burgess of Connecticut Carry said in a press release:
Of even more interest is who is supporting each group. With Connecticut Carry being supported mostly by individuals in a showing of grassroots support, the anti-rights groups have gone the opposite direction being supported mostly by national anti-rights groups and millionaire communist propagandists.
The communist propagandist Rich mentions is none other than Michael Moore who brought his million-plus social media reach to the CAGV’s so-called “grass roots” effort. Without that rotund commie, CAGV was able to muster support from only 1,352 supporters who brought them 550,000 in reach. Thus, the far less social media-active People of the Gun whooped CAGV’s effort even though we started a day later and they enjoy a far more social media-savvy following. That’s what real grass roots support is all about, not the AstroTurf of Moore, MDA, MAIG and their ilk.
In all, the twin pro-rights rallies engaged, directly and virtually, hundreds of thousands of Americans and alerted them to the ongoing struggle of gun owners as our rights are under continual attack.
Thanks to all in the TTAG community for your virtual and actual support. If you would like to further support our efforts, you can visit the pages of the top two gun owners’ rights groups in Connecticut, CCDL and CT Carry.
Thanks!
CTSheepdog
Lemme get this straight:
Laws are in place to prevent gun trafficking. Politician breaks said laws. Politician gets caught by FBI and charged under existing law regarding the illegal importation of arms. Another politician says this wouldn’t be a problem if we put a stop to the legal importation of arms . . . Que?
Beyond the stupidity associated with conflating two obviously different things (just to be clear, legal and illegal do not mean the same thing . . . shocking I know), this opinion shows a woeful lack of appreciation for US history. The ultimate test case for this type of regulation was the 18th Amendment, banning the production, transport, and sale of alcohol. It failed, miserably. Organized crime was born, criminal organizations got rich, and the worst excesses of human behavior got worse, not better. By any metric, it was an abject failure. Yet this is exactly what the government proposes to do again. Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Haha, I don’t give my money to people who are anti-2A. My Family Practitioner carries and we gun-talk during appointments, ditto my chiropractor and optometrist. If I would need to see a specialist for some reason I’d say/write “N/A”.
Yes, I love the Malloy sticker. Similar stickers should include Obama, Dianne Fecalstein, Chuck Schemer, and other freedom/liberty grabbers.
I think it is time for the FBI to do an investigation on California State Rep. Jackie Speier.
Bwahahahaha!
Coincidentaly if you put gas in your car, it seems to run.hmmm must just be a coincedence.Conceal carry andcrime reduction ? Whst sre you kidding me? No Way! Can’t be true! You mean we arrogant Ignorant to firearms liberals are wrong????? Hmmmm….Well then let’s just continue to fabricate facts! Ya that will work! We”ll just keep doing what has always worked!
A
Proud to see the PEOPLE in mass protesting these unjust laws. When I started my pro gun journey (1995), we would have never seen this. Back then to many people still trusted the government. The light is shining brightly now.
Note to Shannon. On your best day, you lack any resemblance of leadership to muster enough folk to fill a Starbucks, nor a Staples or….a theater bathroom.
To be honest, the gun rights movement doesn’t really have a great leader… imagine what could happen if it did, given how many people will come out without one.
No, but then the fact that I saw a copy of American Rifleman in the magazine rack on the inside of the exam room door might be a good sign that he’s not going to ever be asking that question.
It’s right up there with:
“We know Stand your Ground had nothing to do with the Travyon case… but we want to repeal Stand your Ground law. Do it for Trayvon!”
or
“We know this bill will do nothing to prevent another lunatic from committing a mass murder of children, and instead only steal liberties from law abiding citizens and limit their ability to defend themselves… but we need to pass this ‘firearm protection act’ for the children!”
Their zealotry is only matched by their idiocy.
Look on the window it says Woodrige Firearms I believe.Fantastic! They should get Colt and all the rest of the CT gunmakers involved.Start proceedings to impeach that arrogant POS Malloy!
We need a new word for making something illegal even more illegal and another so we can ban something that’s already banned.
Tell me again why they feel I need their permission to be free in my own home/ country?
No common ground. Same problem seen; entirely different paradigns of how to address said issue. No common ground/compromise whatsoever.
Jurgen, your right. The point is, and I’ve seen it personally, is people get upset over having to complete a background check, when in all reality it’s not that big of a deal.
I was also thinking they if mental heth did somehow come into play then there would be no more doctor patient confidentiality.
“Can we agree” is an old salesman technique ( or TRICK “) to get people to relax & let their guard down. I never agree with gun grabbers about anything. Anyone calling me a gun nut I automatically move to the s#!t list. From an old salesman.
Shall. Not. Be. Infringed.
No.
When those of us who are pro 2a can’t even agree with each other on this web site, I have a hard time seeing much cooperation with the anti-2a crowd.
No, we can’t. We can’t because you are lying. Every gun control lobbyist in my lifetime has claimed to want such a discussion but all have studiously avoided actually having one. You want to restrict gun ownership, that’s the bottom line, and all this noise you make about “gun deaths” is just a convenient excuse.
Exactly! with the exception of a few soldiers and maybe a handful of LEO’S, very few CCW holders will ever fire their weapon at a threat. Easy to talk crap and say how your Glock can give 1 inch groups at 30 feet and how you have muscle memory dowm to that of a Navy Seal. In reality, you walk through a dark parking lot or between two buildings one night and an amp’d up crackhead decides that your wallet and iPhone are worth more to him than your life is to you. At least this guy got a shot off amd survived a situation. It isnt about hitting or killing, it is about defending your life! He did that and the rest of you that think you would do better better stick to your video games because you are too full of yourselves….those of us that applaud another guy defending himself to the fullest of his ability should learn from even his experience.
No. ” compromise ” is always us giving in to them . thats how brittan , new york and new jersey got the gun laws they have.
PS: and if you don’t think there is illegal info sharing in the leftist community organizer group “community” from bottom to top, just think back to the local chapter staffer from Wendy Davis who admitted illegal use of voter registration drive personal info for later use in fund-raising and Dem campaigning for votes.
The Google Geeks, Nudge Squad, and various Center for American Progress fronted and funded groups have not gone away- they just multiply and popup in new forms, pretending to be about what the people want.
We MUST do the same- fight back with the facts in social media, emails, and PR to the independent press and online news community, to end-run the prog-tard propagandists of the StateRunMedia. An Army of Davids, (read the book by Glenn Reynolds) armed with a Moral Narrative informed with Passsion and the Facts (read Ben Shapiros how to fight liberals at TruthRevolt).
This Culture War, as Ralph has coined it, has just begun. Its not “just” about guns, thats just the simple most obvious symbol of 2A as it applies to individual vs state rights. And the sea change is underway- flyover America gets it- and the increasing desperation of the Left is obvious, as is their determination to double down, no matter what the cost.
Some responses here equating to the abortion battle. Difference here is that the anti abortion side is clear when debating their intent to ultimately abolish all abortions. The anti gun side still tries to equivocate their position when if they were being honest, they’d just come out and say they are against all guns. This is where the gun divide really starts for most pro gun folks…they know the real intent of the anti gun side.
Reasonable is in the eye of the beholder. The moment that you accept compromise on a principle (“shall not be infringed”) there is no limit and the goal posts keep moving.
As Ayn Rand said:
“Contrary to the fanatical belief of its advocates, compromise [on basic principles] does not satisfy, but dissatisfies everybody; it does not lead to general fulfillment, but to general frustration; those who try to be all things to all men, end up by not being anything to anyone. And more: the partial victory of an unjust claim, encourages the claimant to try further; the partial defeat of a just claim, discourages and paralyzes the victim.”
We should treat the 2A as all other rights: no compromise. There is no other human right more regulated than the rights to keep and bear arms. This must stop and all laws dealing with the right to keep and bear arms should be removed.
Stop “malum prohibitum”, restore “actus reus” and “mens rea”. Stop crimes due to prohibition, restore the law to deal with evil acts with evil intentions.
I wish i knew how to make one of those stickers.. only replace Malloy with Pelosi, shumar and the rest of the losers
I saw one today that said ” no one cares about your stupid stick family,…. had a plane dropping a bomb on the little lined up family..
Nope, ……… because we’d be arguing with idiots who STILL don’t understand why the 2nd Amendment was ever added in the first place.
They are like 6 year olds, who incessantly try to rationalize with their parents why it’s OK for them to stay up till midnight to watch TV. Someday, when they grow up and hopefully mature, they’ll come to understand that the issue was never about the TV, but so far, from what we are seeing lately from these people, all they see is the “warm and fuzzy” rationalizations.
There is only common ground in so much that the approximately 27,000 annual deaths (and the many injuries) involving firearms is entirely too many.
From there, it only goes downhill for their side: which is the Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex, whose sole and primary goal IS the eventual complete and total disarmament of the populace.
So long as they continue to openly threaten our rights (and more often than not our lives), I shall always in all things and in all ways continue to out-right refuse to even dream of thinking of doing anything remotely akin to considering anything else they have to say. About anything. Not at any time, not in any place, not under any circumstance, not for any reason whatsoever.
They are my enemy. They made me theirs after have done exactly nothing to them.
P.S.: We are the literally the only ones who have even done any compromising in the first place! Is not 26,000+ gun control laws at the local, state, and federal levels not enough for Mr. Cooper?
Nope nope nope nope nope.
I have no common ground with deceivers and tyrants, and I am proud of this fact.
No.
The Yellow Dog journals like the Courant, various Times properties, etc. cannot even agree on a common “frightening” statistic.
For nearly a century lawful gun owners have seen their rights restricted or legislated away to an alarming degree. We have been compromising, and we see the result.
This is where it stops!
This is the year we take our rights back!
Yes yes… this massive ground swell of supports around this neck-less man/woman really illustrates how much CT supports the anti-2A movement.
It’s funny what he says about having an American in the trench beside you, because my Dad, who fought in WWII and Korea said the same thing about Brits. Only he used the term “Limey” in a sense of fondness. Not derogatory.
You will never ever have common ground because of the following:
1) Most of gun grabber groups simply want to ban guns — that is all. If this was not the case, then they would also be against certain stupid anti-gun laws but the fact is they are for ALL anti-gun laws so as long as you are 100% gun, there can never be a middle ground and the middle ground for them is 90% for them and 10% for you.
2) What was wrong with the pre-Newtown laws? CT was already ranked 5th as having the strongest gun laws. The shooter did try to buy a gun and was denied. Seems like all the laws were already in place. What would more laws have done? Nothing. The truth the laws were used as an emotional tool to get revenge on people who did nothing but it did satisfy the DNC platform of gun control — that is all it did…nothing more. You cannot have a middle ground with thinking like that
3) Gun owners have become more absolutist because we are tired of giving up rights to satisfy the emotions of others. There will never be any acknowledgement of what has been taken away already. And, once we give a little more, they will just want more and more and more. There is no end and gun owners have drawn a line. We are done.
4) The fact is that many on the gun grabber side simply do not trust the fact that anyone can responsibly own guns. when you start from that point of reason, banning can only be the ultimate goal.
5) Even when the evidence is clear and mentally ill persons have caused a mass shooting, the focus is still about the gun and not the responsible person. This is done on purpose — thus, what is there to compromise about.
6) The majority of all people killed by guns are black killing blacks — that is fact. There is a major urban problem a cycle of poverty, crime, gangs drugs and poor education. Guns have little to do with the social issues. I laugh when those same gun grabber politicians also believe that raising the minimum wage will solve crime and “lift people from poverty” — no the problem is the same, low wages due to poor skills. Nobody and I mean nobody wants to really tackle the urban issues we have. More to the point, it is my belief, that urban politicians want to keep people stupid because they are easier to control and will vote for them because they are low information voters which are strung along with emotions and promises that they seem to not be able to understand are broken every single time. You have groups of people who are taught how to hate and how to be victims. It is just as silly as believing that people we put in jail will suddenly change their life around when released from prison when we do nothing in prisons to help them and nothing when they leave except to keep track of them.
7) The police have no duty to respond nor can always do so even when they want to help either because they cannot due to budge cuts or they are spread too thin. We are our own first responders — but gun grabbers believe that the police will someone be there to always help you — this cannot be further from the truth and the situation will become worse as we build mega cities over the next few decades.
No gun owner wants people or children to die. But banning all guns or restricting them further will not eliminate evil. Banning and restricting booze and marijuana has done nothing. Banning guns will only mean criminals will have guns.
I just sent Dickinson an email via his webpage, committing to a contribution to Eric Cantor’s campaign, with a complete explanation as to why.
What a buffoon.