HARTFORD — Connecticut has no provision in its Constitution to recall elected officials, but critics of gun control say their chance to oust Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and other political opponents will come on Election Day.
“Let us make Nov. 4, 2014 … Connecticut’s recall election,” Scott Wilson, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, said. “Let’s finally end this bad chapter in our state’s history and remove Dan Malloy from office.”
The CCDL held a press conference on the steps of the Capitol Monday to start a week of activism in advance of next week’s election. The group said it will also operate phone banks and canvass its 16,000 members in an all-out effort to drive Malloy from office.
Defeating Malloy has been the CCDL’s top mission since the Democratic governor signed a host of new gun rules and restrictions in response to the Sandy Hook school shootings.
The group has rejected petitioning candidate Joe Visconti, a gun owner and defender of most Second Amendment rights. Instead, it has endorsed Republican nominee Tom Foley, who has said if the legislature passed a bill repealing the post-Sandy Hook gun control law, he would sign it.
“Lawmakers took it upon themselves to hold all gun owners responsible for what happened in a small quiet town in Western Connecticut,” Wilson said. “In essence, these politicians took the politically expedient route and ostracized law-abiding gun owners … Dan Malloy has vilified all gun owners in the state of Connecticut … he has demonized us and weakened our rights.”
The gun control law, signed in 2013, is one of the signature initiatives of Malloy’s first term; a Quinnipiac University poll taken in March found 56 percent of the state’s resident back the measure.
“Gov. Malloy is proud of Connecticut’s smart, strict gun law that’s getting dangerous weapons off our streets and making our families and communities safer,” said Mark Bergman, a senior adviser to the Malloy campaign. “Tom Foley has said he would sign a repeal of the law, Gov. Malloy has said he would never sign a repeal.”
The press conference featured two activists who led a successful movement in Colorado to recall lawmakers, including the president of the state Senate, who supported gun control legislation in that state.
“We beat the likes of Mike Bloomberg, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton,” said Timothy Knight, who led the Colorado recall movement. “We are here to stand with you and let you know that it can be done if you’re willing to fight.”
Wilson and other activists have portrayed Malloy as a gun-grabbing tyrant who has scapegoated law-abiding gun owners. He said he fears the governor and his allies in the legislature, whom Wilson termed “moral busybodies,” will pass more restrictive gun laws if they are re-elected.
The debate is not about guns, Knight said. “It’s about rights and who gets to define or limit them. It’s about arrogance and about public officials forgetting the public part … they are your employees, Connecticut, you hired them to manage the building but you are the landlords.”
