Free Republic

Busloads of gun owners went to the state Capitol complex Monday to publicly express their opposition to new gun-control measures following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. But one of the state's most prominent gun-rights groups is already looking beyond the political battle and preparing for a legal one should lawmakers pass the sweeping restrictions supported by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the legislature's Democratic majority. "We would be remiss if we weren't looking at all options and all responsibilities," said Chris Duffy, events coordinator for the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, a nonpartisan gun rights group with more than...

Hi,  Just want to remind you all about the 2nd Amendment Lobby Day scheduled for this Monday at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. We have a few people (eastern CT) who have said they have room in their vehicles to bring others with them. Please let me know if you are going, need a ride, or are willing to drive others. I will also need your town, so we can connect people with drivers/cars.  Here is the pertinent info (for more please check out the Wednesday email Lobby Day – You Are Needed)  Date: Monday, March 11Time: 10:00 a.m...

An article was recently posted on FR about CAGV and their anti-2A agenda and proposed legislation. Amongst other things, their proposed ideas include a AW ban of 1 military style feature, limit mags to 7 rounds. No grandfathering, bans possession and sale. Handguns would require a yearly background check, annual fee and three year safety inspection. I have saved their full proposal here: I had never heard of the group before, and decided to do some research. What I found was shocking, but unsurprising. First, on Dec 14, while the bodies were still warm, they posted the following in their...

A group of mayors and first selectmen from cities and towns across the state are taking a stand on gun violence in the wake of the deadly school shooting in Newtown. The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities released 13 proposals it's pushing state legislators to pass this session during a news conference at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford on Wednesday morning. ... The recommendations made by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities would include the following: Limiting the capacity of rifle and handgun magazines to no more than 10 bullets. Requiring a rifle permit for those purchasing any long gun such...

Following a deadly school shooting in Newtown last month, the governor has established a commission to look at limiting and possibly preventing another tragedy from ever happening again. "It would be stupid for us not to have this conversation," said Gov. Dannel Malloy in from the State Capitol in Hartford Thursday afternoon. Malloy announced that he is setting up a Sandy Hook Advisory Commission, which will be led by Hamden Mayor Scott Jackson. "This issue touches me, I have a son whose in the first grade," said Jackson. "Right now, it's the most important thing for me to do." The...

I was standing out in the cold on Saturday afternoon offering cash for guns, and I wasn’t having much luck. I was crashing someone else’s party ‑ it was a gun buy-back program in Hartford, Connecticut sponsored by some hospitals, non-profits and the local police. The newspaper had advertised that there’d be a $25 Walmart gift card for any working long guns turned in ‑ I figured if there’s going to be people getting fleeced, I want to be holding the shears. What would people say to $40 in cash on the spot? . . . I’d read about a...

Hartford Jewish Community Attacked - 50 Gravestones DamagedBy Joel Leyden Israel News AgencyHartford, Ct --- October 22, 2012 ... Over 40 gravestones were turned over and vandalized in a Jewish cemetery in Hartford, Ct. The cemetery, which had no security, was attacked over the weekend. The Hartford Police Department’s Major Crimes Division has begun an investigation into the vandalism at the Congregational Israel cemetery, according to Police Chief James C. Rovella. Police suspect that this was a hate crime which may very well be anti-semitism. The superintendent of the Congregation Israel cemetery located at the corner of Waverly Street and...

WEST HARTFORD —— The beef is there, but where's the pickle? That's the question students at Hall High School have been asking on hamburger day in the cafeteria since the food services department made menu changes to meet new school lunch rules from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Students are "outraged over the removal of pickles and salt from the cafeteria at Hall to meet nutrition guidelines," student representative Kendall Teare told the school board last week.

A Superior Court judge has ordered a new election on Oct. 2 in the deadlocked Democratic primary for the 5th General Assembly District. Judge A. Susan Peck scheduled the new vote after an uncounted absentee ballot with the potential to decide the race was opened in court Wednesday afternoon — and was found to be cast for the third candidate in the race. The absentee ballot was in an envelope marked "deceased," but election officials found out Tuesday that it was cast by an elderly Windsor woman who is alive and living in a local nursing home. The uncounted ballot,...

One of the most unusual trials in recent memory in Connecticut is set to begin this week, when seven of the 11 men on the state's death row will be brought into a makeshift courtroom at a prison in Somers as they challenge the fairness of the death penalty. The inmates are suing the state, alleging racial and geographic biases in how prosecutors seek the death penalty and seeking to have their death sentences overturned. After seven years of legal wrangling, the trial is scheduled to start Wednesday. "The issue is whether the death penalty in Connecticut has been administered...

he average price of a gallon of regular self-serve gasoline in Connecticut has jumped above $4 this weekend. That's according to Saturday's survey from auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. It shows the price rose to $4.003 overnight, from $3.999 on Friday. The last time the average price went above $4 was May 16 of this year. The highest average of $4.39 per gallon was recorded on July 9, 2008. Connecticut motorists are now paying more than they were a year ago, when the statewide average price for gasoline was $3.91. Problems with refineries and...

An unusual monthly jobs report for July shows that employers in Connecticut added more than 5,000 jobs even as the unemployment rate jumped sharply, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday. A business survey shows that 5,100 jobs were added in July while a household survey indicates a sharp drop in employment and a spike in the unemployment rate to 8.5 percent, up 0.4 percent from June. The discrepancy is a first in the 22 years the surveys have been conducted and forced officials to abandon any effort to draw conclusions. "The complete disagreement between our two key indicators of...

Despite much criticism, the largest public transportation project in Connecticut is rolling ahead. The busway, renamed CTfastrak, is being built on existing rail lines from New Britain to Hartford, and construction has already started on 11 new bus stations. On Flatbush Avenue, the bus station there will include a bridge to bring cars and people over to the new station, in an attempt to alleviate traffic on the highway and get more people to use public transportation. The project is expected to cost more than $500 million, of which 80 percent will be paid with federal money. The project has...

A violent weekend in Hartford ended with two people dead, several more injured and many others looking for answers. In total, Hartford saw seven shootings and one stabbing over the weekend. In the wake of all the violence, Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra met with officials at City Hall to talk about the violent weekend. Segarra and Hartford Police Chief James Rovella usually meet on Wednesdays, but the meeting was moved up to Monday morning because of the weekend violence. The two met for about 40 minutes Monday morning for an update on what took place. From the North End to...

A new report showing state government continues to tap into its capital project accounts to pay its operating bills sparked bipartisan fears Wednesday that Connecticut may need a loan later this year to keep its finances running smoothly. And though state Treasurer Denise L. Nappier also wrote that total available cash remains "adequate" right now, she added that pressures on the state's cash flow continue to mount. "The common cash pool balance has fallen substantially during the year," Nappier wrote June 1 in her monthly report to the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee. "...The common cash pool is trending downward...

HARTFORD — — Two city police officers are being sued on a claim that they shot a family dog in front of its 12-year-old owner after entering the backyard of her Enfield Street residence without a warrant. Police claimed that a snarling St. Bernard charged at them when they went into the yard to investigate a report that guns were stashed in a vehicle there. A jury trial is scheduled to begin Monday before Judge Robert N. Chatigny in U.S. District Court in Hartford. Glen Harris, who is listed as the minor's guardian, filed the federal lawsuit in 2008 against...

After years of planning, state officials are scheduled to break ground on a rebranded, half billion-dollar Hartford-to-New Britain bus-only corridor, the only one in Connecticut. Once known as the busway, the 9.4-mile route has been rebranded and is now called CTfastrak. Judd Everhart, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said busway was never the official name of the project, but was used as short hand. Everhart said the name CTfastrak describes a new type of public transit, combining fast transportation free of traffic similar to rail travel with the flexibility and direct service of a bus. The state...

Faltering state income tax revenues left Gov. Dannel P. Malloy reporting his largest budget deficit to date on Friday. And unless tax receipts reported this week by nonpartisan legislative analysts improve, Malloy's budget plan for next year -- including a state employee pension fund fix and increased education aid to towns -- could be out of balance now and headed for more than $500 million in red ink by 2013-14. The governor's budget agency, the Office of Policy and Management, reported that the general fund in this year's $20.14 billion budget is $66.9 million in deficit. Malloy needs to finish...

The Connecticut House of Representatives will be voting on the high-profile death penalty repeal bill Wednesday, a week after the bill passed in the state's Senate. Doug Whiting, spokesman for House Speaker Rep. Christopher Donovan of Meriden, told the Associated Press Tuesday that the House will take up the bill mid-afternoon Wednesday. The proposed bill would abolish the death penalty for all future cases, but would not directly affect the sentences of current 11 inmates on Connecticut's death row. The state Senate approved a repeal bill after nearly 11 hours of debate last week. If passed in the House, the...

Bill Clinton stepped onto the Bushnell stage Friday night for the first time since Oct. 6, 1996, when he debated Bob Dole on the way to an easy victory for a second term in the White House. "We were civil, and we committed what I think would be mass heresy today," said Clinton, a guest of the 20-year-old public-speaking series, the Connecticut Forum. "We actually talked about how much we liked each other. And we still do." Clinton, 65, still has the raspy voice of man who likes to talk. It is a gift that allowed him to twice be...