(image at left by dgim-studio, courtesy of Freepik.com, and modified by The MUSEman. Click it to enlarge.)

“Section 17: Every citizen has a right to bear arms in defence of himself and the state.”
  - THE CONSTITUTION OF CONNECTICUT (1818)

Recently I read a breathtaking headline claiming the State of Connecticut was attempting to pass a bill which would “make most of the State a Gun-Free Zone”.

Under the proposed Connecticut House Bill HB 5448 a “Gun-Free Zone” of 1000 feet would exist around early voting locations, polling places, ballot drop boxes, same-day election registration sites, and places where ballots are counted and re-canvassing takes place. Lawful carry would be banned for a 31-day period once absentee voting begins. The bill also allows “certain election workers” to shield their home addresses from a FOIA request and allows criminal and civil prosecution for anyone exhibiting “threatening or harassing conduct toward election workers”.

Obviously, hundreds (if not thousands) of responsible, legal gun owners in Connecticut who are opposed to this bill are correct in claiming it would be difficult during the State’s 31-day voting period to know when they’d be breaking the law while otherwise legally carrying a firearm. (Lawyers like to use the words “burdensome” and “onerous” rather than “difficult”, while the US Constitution’s 2nd Amendment states quite elegantly “…the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”)

I was curious to see just how difficult obeying this proposed law might be, so I took a look at just one Connecticut town: Trumbull, located just North of Bridgeport, CT (one of the State’s largest and poorest cities, whose government has been run by Democrats for decades). And here’s what I discovered…

Let’s find out where Trumbull’s protected election sites are located:

• According to Connecticut’s list of Early Voting Locations Trumbull’s location is their Town Hall’s Office of the Registrar.

• This office also handles Same-Day Voter Registration and has one of Trumbull’s two Ballot Drop-Off Boxes – the other box is located at their Police Department.

• Trumbull’s town website lists seven (7) voting districts, each with their own polling location. All of these locations are public schools, except for Christian Heritage School, “a K-12 interdenominational Christian school”.

• Trumbull doesn’t publish where ballots are counted and/or re-canvassed, so let’s assume it’s done at their Town Hall.

So there are at least nine locations in Trumbull, CT subject to the proposed 1000-foot “Gun-Free Zone”, and here are those zones on the town’s map:

(click image for a huge version)

Result? If the bill passes, then for 31 days after absentee voting begins in the Town of Trumbull…

• Anyone traveling down Route 15 with a gun and a legal lawful carry permit runs the risk of being arrested for unlawful possession as they pass by the Christian Heritage School, the Frenchtown School, and the Police Station.
  
  

  (click image to enlarge)

  Assuming the speed limit along Route 15 is 55 MPH you’d be breaking the law for about 15 seconds as you passed by each of three locations – three perfect places for the Connecticut State Police to set up a trap. If you’re feeling lucky – and don’t mind losing your permit and/or firearm – go for it and hope you’re not caught.

• If you avoided Route 15 be prepared to take a detour around those “Gun-Free Zones” when driving through the town: Here are some maps to show just how inconvenient some detours are: (click any image to enlarge)
  

  (1) Daniels Farm Road Detour:

  (2) Booth Hill Road Detour (Booth Hill Elementary):

  (3) Stonehouse Road Detour (Tashua Elementary):

  (4) Madison Ave Detour (Madison Middle School):

  (5) Frenchtown Road Detour (Frenchtown Elementary): This road’s proximity to Route 15, which is already essentially off limits, makes any convenient detour difficult: See the map at “Route 15″ above, and good luck!

  (6) Middlebrooks Ave Detour (Middlebrook Elementary): Note this detour also avoids Trumbull’s EMS Services and Animal Shelter, as both fall within the “Gun-Free Zone”.

  (7) White Plains Road Detour (Christian Heritage School): This road’s proximity to Route 15, which is already essentially blocked, makes a convenient detour difficult: See the map at “Route 15″, above to see why, and good luck!

• And, it isn’t enough to avoid Route 15 and the schools: You’ll need to avoid the Town Hall because a Ballot Drop Box is next to it, and that means avoiding the Town Public Library and the Town Shopping Plaza too. But this shouldn’t be a problem as you’re already avoiding the nearby Middlebrook School (See Item (6), above).

• Even after doing all of that, if you live inside one of those “Gun-Free Zones” you’ll have to keep your firearms inside your home or risk being charged. Everyone else could avoid breaking the law completely by simply not carrying their legally-licensed firearm. However, this defeats the primary reason why most people legally carry firearms: To protect themselves and their families while also supporting the gradual erosion of America’s 2nd Amendment Right to Bear Arms – two things Liberal Democrats have been undermining for decades.

In just this one town we’ve discovered under Connecticut’s proposed legislation legal gun owners would be banned from most of a town’s public offices, some of it’s schools, (I presume) its’ downtown retail area, and parts of a major highway traversing town for about a month during an election year. Now expand this same analysis to every one of Connecticut’s 169 cities and towns.

And, the legislation appears to address a non-existent problem: Although examples of politically-motivated, armed intimidation are known to exist – for example, the New Black Panthers at a Philly polling place in 2008, showing armed support of Democrat Stacey Abrams” in 2018, and NFAC marching through Louisville, KY during – a quick search found no such incidents involving guns in Connecticut. Finally, this bill does nothing to stop armed criminals while leaving law-abiding people less protected and diminishing both their Federal and State Constitutional rights.

Unfortunately, the bill doesn’t just involve the 2nd Amendment, it also takes aim at the First Amendment:

“(a) Any person who influences or attempts to influence by force or threat the vote, or by force, threat, bribery or corrupt means, the speech, of any other person [in] at a primary, caucus, referendum, convention or election [;] shall be guilty of a class C felony.”

Question: Who gets to decide what constitutes a threat, force, bribe, or corrupt means? Is it “feelings”, or does some other CT law apply? (Those questions are rhetorical, of course – I’ll leave them to the pundits and lawyers.)

“(b) (1) Any person who influences or attempts to influence by force, threat or harassment, including through publicly disclosing or threatening to publicly disclose personal identifying information, any election worker in the performance of any duty under the provisions of this title related to election administration at a primary, referendum, election or recanvass shall be guilty of a class C felony.”

Question: Is simply publishing (or, threatening to) the name of an “election worker” – with no other information – sufficient cause to be charged and arrested? What if you want to complain about how they did their job, or inform the public of the worker’s political bias or possibly illegal activity during the election? Are there situation where CT HB 5448 would work to silence legitimate speech? (Again, those questions are rhetorical.)

Hopefully, for law-abiding, responsible, legal gun owners Connecticut’s House Bill 5448 won’t pass, despite Democrats having control of the Governor’s Office, Senate, and House for the last 14 years in a row.was once home to over 200 arms manufacturers, including Colt, Remington, and Winchester

Side Note: Same-Day Voter Registration is convenient for voters, but because they can cast their vote immediately after registering there may not be enough time to verify the documents they provided when registering. In some states, once a vote is cast they assume it’s legal, and some states may not check for illegal Same-Day Registrations (or remove dead, duplicate, or illegal voters from their voter lists). Of course there may always be extenuating circumstance requiring last-minute registration, but the last minute to do something correctly is usually the first minute to do it wrong. In my opinion Same-Day Voter Registration creates more problems than it solves, especially if the goal is fair, open, and honest elections.

Thanks for Reading!