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
How many major news stations showed up to record the event or do interviews? How many mainly focused on the few gun control advocates that attended and said they outnumbered them?
Rhetorical questions I am sure … we already know the answers!
” 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.”
Officer, officer!!! Those people brandishing guns are committing a crime!! You MUST go and arrest them! They are intimidating me and I feel threatened!
There was NOTHING in DC and MD. Typical.
That Malloy sticker is outstanding!
Hah! Didn’t get that at first…. nice.
That Malloy bumper sticker is pure genius. Thousands need to be printed and posted everywhere.
Lets keep the pressure up and be heard loud and clear!!!!!
A few corrections, if I may.
Those were the Capitol Police, not the State Police.
Visconti has also addressed CCDL meetings.
Also, a note: Visconti is the only one of the gubernatorial candidates that is himself armed.
Other than that, I was very pleased with the turnout. Hoping for more, but we always do. It was easily twice the size of last year’s rally. Next year is a full session of the CGA, where repeal of this law can be considered.
brian, thanks for the corrections. The SP vs CP was a brain fart. I did not know that Joe has spoken at CCDL and got my info from a published article.
Yes, I love the Malloy sticker. Similar stickers should include Obama, Dianne Fecalstein, Chuck Schemer, and other freedom/liberty grabbers.
Yes, where can we get or how do we make?
zazzle.com allows for the creation of your own designs and then making them available. You have to provide your own graphic images however.
The mainstream media will of course never mention that this rally dwarfed the Moms’ rallies.
well the mainstream media really doesn’t mention MDA rallies any more either, TTAG being one of the few places where you’ll still hear about most of them.
That is certainly something for which we must stand. If we don’t stand, won’t we fall? Erosions and outright attacks at our Second Amendment guarantees of God-given rights are ongoing. Stand strong Patriots, stand strong America, we will win, if we will persevere!
AMEN!!!!!
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.
EXACTLY.. Gun owners need a leader.
In my lifetime only one man met the criteria of a great charismatic leader. It was only 15 years ago that Charlton Heston took the stage. He had the stage presence, trained actor confidence, other worldly voice, and the civil rights cred over several decades. It came right after the NRA revolt. After the start of Marion Hammers Florida initiatives. All these combined to make him the right man for the time. But it only lasted due to his failing health for a few years.
Today I struggle to think who might play the same role.
COLION NOIR.
Wouldn’t that be great? It would shut everyone up about gun owners being racist bigots. (In addition to it’s primary goal of giving us a leader to unite behind).
There were few local media outlets there. WTNH reported there were only “hundreds” of supporters and “many” gun control advocates counter protesting. They are WRONG on both estimates. Pro 2a supporters numbered in the thousands, while there was only one, ONE! counter protester there holding a sign, and his photographer.Though many people were wearing jackets and sweat shirts, more than half open carried ( a conservative estimate).
We need to keep this front and center in NY, CT, MD, and CA.
Don’t forget about NJ.
I had no idea there was a rally in Connecticut. I would have definitely attended if I lived within two hours of there.
I really wish The Truth About Guns would do more to make site visitors aware of major rallies like this. We need all the support that we can get.
They did, on March 31: http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2014/03/daniel-zimmerman/ct-2a-supporters-take-social-media-appeal-help/
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 get thousands to show up.
MoMs get a dozen on a good day for their events..
And we give them the free press here.
Does Ms Watts even know of here??
Or any of their few dozen supporting members??
You bet they do – they lurk here.
I meant to go to the rally but slept too late to make the drive (happens to all revolutionaries?) I had no idea they were live streaming it.
And NO arrests were made whooo! Great job everybody
Excellent!
I’m going to show my age by saying that all the scorekeeping counts of the supporters and social reach sounds so narcissistic and “high school”. I value those numbers as much as I do the outcome of an internet poll declaring Ron Paul the “bestest of everything”.
doesky2 – Yes, it does but you have to understand that the antis in CT will boast of any accomplishment and the media will trumpet if for them. The idea about the rights’ advocates counter-virtual-rally was to provide a counter-point to the CAGV effort and deprive them of their ability to call it an unchallenged success. While the headline numbers showed them with more “reach” we had both more individual supporters and beat them on “reach” when you removed their fat commie astoturf Michael Moore.
Yes, sounds minor but we kicked their butts at their own game which was the objective in the first place.
attent rallys but vote the the antis out.
If I still lived in MA I would definitely have been there. Living in Kansas now means good gun laws just happen. Although we can’t get complacent because there will always be something to fight for. I move to NC next. The pistol permit needs to go in that state which might be something good to fight for there.
The media coverage here is typical, very limited mention of the pro gun side, and a big article with a nice picture of Malloy and his minions marking the anniversary.
Any and All rallies should have armed citizens with a notice to the ilk like Malloy and whom ever has infringed that we the people intend to make a citizens arrest on that individual. That we the people prefer this be a peaceful arrest but like the police working for Malloy we the people are prepared and willing to take him under arrest by force of arms if necessary. 6000 armed and ready American gun owners will stand down any police unit any day. BUT if they are stupid enough to try and start a fight we need to let them know we will fight and die to protect our right to protect our families and country by excercising our 2nd. End of story end of issue all the anti’s can go home or to their graves.
youre welcome. clicking a few facebook buttons is, very nearly, the least i can do.
Congratulations CT Sheepdog- keep up the great work.
This is another outstanding proof of the pent-up frustration and the voice of 2A rights believers, when a pure-grassroots effort with no funding can bring national response to one statehouse.
Its also a proof of how we HAVE to stay engaged, and not sit back and rest on our laurels- read MDAs own proposal for “digitital disruption” ( I wont give them the eyballs, but instead quote from MDAs website )
Heres one of Giffords former legislative staff describing what ARS (Commander Kellys new agitprop group, funded using taxpayer supported congressional staff databases, and new funding- $1.8M claimed- funny, never see that info on the ARS website- all divulged and bragged about in the SWSX conference in Austion- about collusion between ARS, MDA, and MAIG :
“I think we’re getting there, because there is now a grassroots on the issue that is being run by various smart people doing this in cutting-edge ways,” he said.
Ambler started working for congresswoman Giffords five days before she was shot in the head in a surprise attack at a political event, but it was the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012 that spurred the creation of Americans for Responsible Solutions (ARS).
“The first thing that we did was we put an op-ed in USA Today announcing what we were going to do, and we sent an email on some cheap digital letterhead to Gabby’s campaign list of 20,000 people,” he said. “We had no idea how integral the digital space was going to be to our efforts.”
Ambler said ARS is using digital technology in four ways to disrupt the NRA and other elements of the gun lobby. First, with funding: it has raised more than $18.1m to date from more than 218,000 contributions, with more than half of it coming from people donating online in amounts of less than $200.
Second, ARS is excited about measuring online interactions: analytics. Ambler cited elections in Virginia where the body carefully targeted its spending.
“Increasingly we’re able to figure out who the most receptive people in the electorate are, and target them based on a gun violence message,” he said. “We’re disrupting this idea that’s been perpetrated by the gun lobby and the media for far too long that you support gun violence legislation at your own political peril.”
Third, ARS uses digital to show that groups traditionally thought of as strongly pro-gun – veterans, for example – are not so monolithic in their views. Again, targeting and analytics have been important, as has been signing up 6,000 people for its Veterans for Responsible Solutions movemebt.
And fourth, ARS uses social media to give supporters an insight into the daily lives of its founders Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly: a direct communication channel rather than having to rely just on traditional media outlets.”
The issue with social media engagement is: “how many neutral or undecided people are actually reached and how many are engaged by being pinged by such efforts?”
If the messages they are sharing never leave the echo chamber of their own like-minded community, it does little good. If it gets to the outside and can convince those who are not decided, then it can matter and that is where it needs to be countered.
A bunch of antis doing a virtual circle-jerk/diddle all reinforcing their already strong held views does nothing to us. Sadly, the same can be said of many of the discussions here among the people of the gun (discussions, not groups masturbation that is).
As has been pointed out here and elsewhere, the most effective outreach is that that gets through to those in the rhetorical middle. Take a newbie to a range and show them guns are not scary. Talk to someone about the nature of the Constitution and that it has a Bill of Rights, not a Bill of Rights with the Exception of One Restriction. You all know the scripts.
The issue is the Media acting as a filter through which only narrative-supporting information is allowed to flow openly and freely. That requires getting around the Media filters and going directly to folks.
This sounds suspiciously like the now-debunked Democratic Party Obama reelection fairy tale. My assessment is a small number of very large checks from a handful of individuals/foundations; the rest as individual checks from the “true believers,” the gullible, and those seeking tax deductions who would contribute to the American Communist Party if a mailer or email arrived at the right time.
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.
Nutmeggers will never be free until they kick out the gang of thugs that currently rules Connecticut, starting with Malloy. He’s the worst of the worst, nothing better than a mobster with a nice suit.
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..
There are companies out there that make custom bumper stickers, just do a Web search and you’ll find them. I had a bumper sticker made that read, “Can America Survive Stupid People?”.
I’m truly concerned about Maryland. This Fall we vote to replace the outgoing governor with… WHAT? Another of the same, if not worse?
Both the Democratic Machine and the Republican Whirlygig reliably churn out nearly identical crooks as candidates. The few relatively honest people in politics here usually don’t stand a chance.
We are in a race with New Jersey to be the next Connecticut. This bodes ill for all…
Do a Web search for “bumper stickers”. One website that comes to mind is zazzle.com.
You people are weird. I guess saying that makes me a communist. Careful you don’t blow your foot off. Dirty Harry wannabees.
[Yawn]
If your crew didn’t come off like a bunch of yahoo freaks I’d leave my name. I don’t care if the rest of the klan sees my message as long as you get it. I don’t “hate” guns, actually kinda like them. I just would like to see sensible regulation and keep them out of the hands of half cockers. Your commenters are lame and would probably be worthless in a firefight.
We already have plenty of unconstitutional regulation. These regulations do NOTHING to control the criminal use of firearms, they only put up walls preventing law-abiding citizens from exercising their god-given right to self-defense.
What are you proposing that will keep criminals from using guns that will not interfere with my 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms?
Without that plan you need to stand back out of the way.
@Dennis: I don’t know how to take it when you say “you better stand back out of the way.” I don’t think you mean it as a threat, but you’ve got to admit, the way you say it is kind of ambiguous. Just like a bunch of angry men carrying firearms is kind of ambiguous. If I disagree with you guys in public and we get into a heated argument, how do I know your sidearm stays holstered. What if you lose your temper…people do…can you vouch for the temperment of every one with a carry permit? Of course you can’t. So most of you may be very cool, controlled and responsible. I now some pretty good guys who have or want carry permits who’s fuse is nevertheless too short to be walking around with a piece in their belt. I don’t want such people carrying guns concealed or in the open in my community. What standards do you support in that regard?
Or are you one of those?
Thanks troll.
And by all means, keep up your “brilliant” commentaries going. Doesn’t hurt any of us to have some more laughs today. 🙂
Here is something the Antis should consider very carefully.
The people who attended the rally in person are only the most passionate ones about the issue. Every one of the 3,000 to 5,000 people who showed up at that rally represents another 500 to 1,000 people who also support their cause, but not enough to take the effort to be there in person, or who wanted to be there, but couldn’t. That means that the 3,000 to 5,000 people there represent somewhere between 1 1/2 to 5 MILLION people who were not there in person. That is a large voting bloc. If they all go to the polls in November, there will be some changes in Connecticut.
Listen closely; “I pay more taxes to have less freedom” the highest taxed areas in the US have the most restrictions on its people. NY; Stop and frisk. NJ: 10 round restriction. Commifornia; Micro stamped firing pins ? The only people who need to be controlled are the angry liberals that are all pi$$y over us not doing what they say. Look at Arizona, where I am. It is the gun friendliest state in the country. Phoenix is also the 5th or 6th largest metro area. We don’t have traveling actors making movies to take our freedoms. WAKE UP MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS !
It is unfortunate how many of you miss the point entirely. I am 61 years old and have owned
and operated firearms all my life. As a gun owner, it’s disheartening to see you all so eager to get into a pissing match with anyone and everyone. You’re your own worst enemies. You folks either
don’t understand the law or you don’t understand our Constitution – or both.
There is exactly nothing in current CT law that prohibits law abiding, responsible gun owners like me from purchasing, owning and operating firearms for self-protection – and I don’t need a 30 round mag to dispatch a crackhead from my front door. Background checks are absolutely constitutional…have been all along….for decades. Every court of this land right up to and including the Supreme Court upholds background checks as constitutional. They have been proven effective and criminals
absolutely go where they don’t have to pass one. So that’s long done and settled.
Furthermore, as soon as you incorporate anything about “liberals”’ or “conservatives” or “left” or “right” in your argument, you immediately discredit yourself. This is not about politics.
And please, folks, attaching bumper stickers to your car and waving flags does NOT make you a patriot. Please do not defile and threaten to defy the laws of this great land and then call yourselves patriots. You embarrass yourselves and disrespect real American patriots when you do that. The truth is that the majority of responsible gun owners want nothing to do with you. You are making us all look bad with your radical extremism. Please stop – or we all lose.
@ Pat: Sir I would consider myself remiss to not respond to you. People on this and other threads label me as anti-gun. I grew up with a .38 Police Special in the house. I don’t own a firearm, but don’t take the tack that no one needs a gun or that here is no use for them. I believe I can see both sides of this story but do get a bit PO’d when I come across people ON BOTH SIDES OF THE FENCE who can’t see a bit of daylight coming from the other side. So without presenting all the details of my arguments for what i consider to be reasonable regulation of firearms, I would just like to acknowledge you as someone I have common ground with. I suspect some of the other posters here may have a more reasonable side, but all the name calling and bluster (mea culpa) gets in the way.
Comments are closed.