Free Republic

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) signed what the Hartford Courant called “the toughest assault weapons legislation in the nation” last year. It required owners of semi-automatic firearms to register all firearms designated as “assault weapons” with the state government, along with any “high capacity” magazines they may own, by December 31, 2013. The Malloy regime expected Connecticut residents to register somewhere between 372,000-400,000 firearms, and roughly 2 million firearm magazines that held more than 10 rounds before January 1. What they got instead was defiance.

Republicans, to be seen as a young and dynamic political party, must present a positive agenda that restores opportunity for social mobility and reforms the nation's immigration policies, former Florida governor and possible 2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush said Thursday. Bush, appearing at a major fundraiser named after his late grandfather U.S. Sen. Prescott Bush, received loud applause from the crowd of nearly 800 Connecticut Republicans for his immigration reform stance.

STORRS, Conn. (AP) - University of Connecticut officials have suspended a sorority as they investigate allegations that its members forced men to drink booze, eat dog treats, paint their bodies, wear women's underwear and take alcohol shots off each other's bodies.

A natural gas pipeline stretching 435 miles across Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula is just one piece of General Electric’s multibillion-dollar bid to shore up energy infrastructure in North America, where an oil and gas boom has drawn a wave of investments to new pipelines. GE’s energy investing arm has more than $3 billion tied up in 43,500 miles of pipeline, the largest U.S. liquefied natural gas export facility and other energy transportation and storage ventures. But it has started to shift its attention to early-stage ventures as U.S. and Canadian pipeline operators collect billions for new projects that link remote shale...

Health Plan Premiums Are Skyrocketing According To New Survey Of 148 Insurance Brokers, With Delaware Up 100%, California 53%, Florida 37%, Pennsylvania 28%13 Health insurance premiums are showing the sharpest increases perhaps ever according to a survey of brokers who sell coverage in the individual and small group market. Morgan Stanley’s healthcare analysts conducted the proprietary survey of 148 brokers. The April survey shows the largest acceleration in small and individual group rates in any of the 12 prior quarterly periods when it has been conducted. The average increases are in excess of 11% in the small group market and...

BRANFORD -- There's a new keeper of the Kennedy flame. Ted Kennedy Jr. -- cloaking himself in the legacy of his father and uncles, from their familiar cadence to their crusade for social justice to their wavy hair -- finally acquiesced Tuesday to the overtures of Democrats who have long tried to lure the advocate for the disabled into running for office. The 52-year-old lawyer from Branford launched his candidacy for state Senate during a rally in his hometown, where retiring incumbent Edward Meyer introduced Kennedy as his heir apparent in what could become the most-watched race ever for the...

Mosin Nagant 91/30 (We don't need any stinkin' smart guns!)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Ted Kennedy Jr. is planning to run for the state Senate in Connecticut. Two people briefed on the decision say the son of the late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts will announce Tuesday that he intends to seek the Democratic nomination for the state's 12th District. They spoke on condition of anonymity because Kennedy wants to make the announcement. Kennedy is a 52-year-old health care lawyer who lives in Branford, a coastal town outside New Haven, and has been mentioned as a possible political candidate for years. He had said last month he was considering...

HARTFORD — Former Gov. John G. Rowland, identified Monday in federal court as a co-conspirator in an alleged campaign financing scheme, announced Thursday that he was leaving as WTIC-AM's afternoon talk-show host. "Today will be my last show as I leave the station to take care of some personal issues," he said just before 6 p.m, at the end of his regular three-hour time slot. "We accept Mr. Rowland's decision to step down at this time," WTIC Program Director Jenneen Lee said in an email at 6:06 p.m. "Pastor Will will take over the 3 to 6 p.m. show beginning...

Dan Zimmerman at The Truth About Guns asks Could Connecticut Gun Laws Spark Another Waco? There’s been a lot of discussion among members of the Armed Intelligentsia lately about how Connecticut’s finest might proceed if they decide to confiscate unregistered guns from the state’s 100,000 or more newly-minted felons. The level of concern is evidenced by daily long comment threads, speculative posts by people who are not members of law enforcement, and even a couple of contributed opinions from the LEO community. The rational consensus seems to be that if the gun-grab order were given, cops would pinch a...

There’s been a lot of discussion among members of the Armed Intelligentsia lately about how Connecticut’s finest might proceed if they decide to confiscate unregistered guns from the state’s 100,000 or more newly-minted felons. The level of concern is evidenced by daily long comment threads, speculative posts by people who are not members of law enforcement, and even a couple of contributed opinions from the LEO community. The rational consensus seems to be that if the gun-grab order were given, cops would pinch a registration scofflaw at the grocery store, at work, on the road…anyplace other than his or her...

Dan Zimmerman at The Truth About Guns asks Could Connecticut Gun Laws Spark Another Waco?There’s been a lot of discussion among members of the Armed Intelligentsia lately about how Connecticut’s finest might proceed if they decide to confiscate unregistered guns from the state’s 100,000 or more newly-minted felons. The level of concern is evidenced by daily long comment threads, speculative posts by people who are not members of law enforcement, and even a couple of contributed opinions from the LEO community. The rational consensus seems to be that if the gun-grab order were given, cops would pinch a registration scofflaw...

HARTFORD -Starting Tuesday, April 1, long guns may not be sold or transferred in Connecticut without a permit to carry pistols or revolvers or an eligibility certificate for pistols or revolvers or a long gun eligibility certificate, according to the state police. The law is part of the package of gun control legislation passed by the General Assembly last year after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. Other parts of the law had already taken effect. The law required owners of assault weapons that were banned under the law to register their guns by Jan. 1, 2014....

Democratic lawmakers and campaign finance reform advocates quickly bashed Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision to strike down total limits on individual campaign contributions, warning of future corruption in elections. Meanwhile, Republicans largely cheered the ruling from the narrowly divided court, which found it unconstitutional to impose caps on the aggregate amounts that one person can donate to campaigns, parties and political action committees. Calling himself “all for freedom,” Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Wednesday commended the ruling, saying “donors ought to have the freedom to give what they want to give.” And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who had filed...

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Some Newtown residents are calling for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter's home to be torn down and replaced with a park or nature preserve, according to a new community survey. The Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation received more than 1,600 responses to the survey it released Monday on town residents' unmet needs in the wake of the December 2012 shootings. The foundation has been deciding how to distribute more than $11 million in donations made in response to the shootings, which left 20 first-graders and six educators dead. While most of the survey responses said money...

Government Motors. Remember that one? That's a huge, overlooked detail in this whole GM recall crisis - the federal government's oversight of a company they bought out of bankruptcy four years ago and, under their nose, that same company is hiding its deadly, dirty laundry. Charlie LeDuff caught up with California Democrat Henry Waxman, who was head of the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform at the time of that purchase.

hamden >> Seniors and U.S. Rosa L. DeLauro planned their next move Friday as they looked for ways to keep UnitedHealthcare and federal agencies accountable after the large insurer cut Yale-New Haven Hospital and more than 2,200 doctors around the state from their Connecticut networks. DeLauro, D-3, said she will ask the federal General Accounting Office to investigate the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services on how it determined the remaining practitioners will be enough to serve patients and whether UHC gave the required notice to Greater New Haven clients. The letter has been signed by all five of Connecticut’s...

April 1, 2014 3:54 PM Democratic Senator Tells GM Car Owners to Stop Driving Immediately By Jim Geraghty A reader sends this in and quips, “Blumenthal to Michigan: Drop Dead!” CBS Connecticut: “Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal is among those calling for GM to make a stronger statement and tell owners to stop driving their cars immediately. Blumenthal believes GM made a decision to hide the defect of ignition switches.” Considering the risk from the switches, Blumenthal’s advice isn’t the most outlandish conclusion in the world. If an owner of one of the recalled cars wants to drive it at all,...

(MFNS) - North Korea announced today that its leader Kim Jung-Un has a perfect NCAA tournament bracket on the road to the final four of the prestigious collegiate basketball competition. “Our dear leader has once again vanquished the capitalist slime with his superior brainpower. While the imperialist scum sided with the largest, most powerful programs, Kim Jung-Un foresaw the power of underdog squadrons."A contest sponsored by Warren Buffet promised to give $1 billion to anyone with a perfect bracket at the end of the tournament. Every contestant has already been eliminated.Although Kim did not officially enter the contest, officials...

With just days to go before open enrollment ends on March 31, Maryland officials are reportedly planning to abandon its glitch-ridden ObamaCare website and replace the health exchange with technology from Connecticut’s marketplace. The Washington Post reported late Friday that the board of the Maryland exchange will vote on changing the system that has cost at least $125.5 million at a meeting on Tuesday, the day after the end of the first enrollment period under ObamaCare. …