Connecticut Carry says "Joe Must Go." What I know is that what starts in Connecticut under the anti-American, Soviet-loving Mike Lawlor will not stay in Connecticut.

"I'll either get traction, and take this race in a three- or four-way, or I'll be irrelevant." -- Joe Visconti.

A long-time fighter for firearm rights in Connecticut commented to me:

I will tell you that right now we have a pretty large problem with a third party candidate (Joe Visconti) who is seeking to torpedo the election because he is upset that he didn't get a GOP nod.

For some reason, we have a contingent of people in Connecticut that think this guy is 'pro-gun' (we are not 'pro-gun', we are pro-rights, but I digress), when he openly advocates for mandating unloaded carry (condition 3) because of one person having a negligent discharge in a bagel shop, and openly states that our 2013 Gun Ban went 'too far' and would repeal the 'magazine portion' of the bill (but not the rest of the 130+ page monstrosity).

He is running under 9% in the polls at the moment. Just enough to act as a spoiler, but with no chance to win. . .

There is quite a bit of speculation of whether he is really this stupid/insane or whether he is a Malloy plant. I think there is a lot more evidence for the former than the latter, but neither seem to be off the table when you consider his behavior.

In support of this, I received the October issue of Connecticut Carry's October newsletter, and among the articles is this op-ed. I reprint it in its entirety, as well as the analysis piece that follows it, because it describes where we are in Connecticut, a state that is only awaiting the re-election Malloy and his anti-firearm commissar Red Mike "KGB" Lawlor for the gun raids -- and the subsequent civil war -- to begin.

Joe Must Go

by Bob Margolis.

It’s time for you to go, Joe. You’ve probably worked harder than anyone else in the race for governor, but in your heart you know you can’t win.

You’ve campaigned on valiantly as the “other guy” and while there’s merit to that, at some point you’re only going to hurt the chances for the state of Connecticut to elect someone that is not Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

You told me face to face several times that your objective was to get Malloy out of office. You now have the best opportunity of any one in the state to do that. While you have gathered support from some independents, some Republicans and a few Democrats, we all know that as the election gets closer people will cast their vote for someone that they think can win. That candidate is not you, Joe.

You have few funds and little name recognition outside of a small circle of influence and what worries me most is that Malloy is now saying good things about you. Our governor is playing you like a fine fiddle Joe. Gov. Malloy knows that his only threat in this election is Tom Foley, not Joe Visconti. Nearly every vote cast for you will be a vote taken away from Tom Foley. The closer the election, the more dangerous your participation becomes.

Why do you think that the attack ads only go after Mr. Foley and not you? Because their side wants you to get votes Joe, as many as it takes to swing the numbers their way. The governor and his team are not stupid, they’re playing you for a fool, and I know you’re not a fool.

Joe, you have the chance to be “Rudy” for Connecticut. You have the chance to be carried off the field held high on the shoulders of the winning team. You also have the chance to be the spoiler, to be the one that hands the election to the incumbent. I’m asking you to be Rudy. Joe, be Rudy for us, be Rudy for everyone in Connecticut. By doing that, you can come back some day and run for office again, next time as a hero, not a spoiler. Withdraw from the election Joe, get out of the race and ask your supporters to vote for Tom Foley. Campaign with Tom and campaign for Tom. He’s the best chance we have of taking back our state.

In addition to this op-ed is this analysis by Rick Burgess, "Are We Going To Lose This Election?":

No one wants to be the one to say it. Connecticut Carry sure doesn’t want to have to be the ones to have to say it. But we are in serious risk of losing this election. We have Malloy on the run with poll numbers from Malloy-friendly polling institutes that cannot hide the fact that Connecticut residents hate Governor Dannel Malloy and his policies and favor Republican challenger Tom Foley.

So how can we lose?

We have a contingent of people who have decided that ‘principle’ and ‘rights’ mean more to them than the basic common sense of voting the worst anti-rights governor in the nation out. Now, let’s be clear here: We support and stand on principles and rights more than any organization in Connecticut. We opposed bills that other organizations were actively supporting because the bills were against individual rights and therefore unacceptable to us, and we are proud of that. We support the absolute right to bear arms, and do not advocate for laws that prohibit anyone from buying, owning or carrying a self-defense tool in whatever manner that they see fit. But what some have decided is standing on principles and rights is, in fact, guaranteeing a loss to Governor Malloy by splitting the vote with a candidate who cannot win, and who would not fulfill the promises he has made anyway.

The center of this problem is candidate Joe Visconti, who is supposedly, the ‘pro-gun’ pick for governor despite there not being a single pro-rights organization endorsing him, and for good reason. When we look into his background and public statements, we do not need to look very far to see that he is completely incompatible with a belief in principles and individual rights. In a recorded video that he made, he stated unequivocally that he believes that since a Bridgeport officer negligently discharged a round through the glass window of the bagel shop, where he was sitting, the solution should be that officers state-wide be mandated to carry unloaded firearms. He went on to say that, if he were governor, he would make that policy happen. What would then happen if/when there were a mass shooting under his administration? His thought pattern, about penalizing every innocent person for the stupid actions of one person, does not bode well for the law-abiding citizens of Connecticut. Visconti's logic is the same logic used by anti-rights politicians like Governor Malloy.

Unfortunately, Visconti's most adamant supporters have decided to hold this election hostage, with many of them openly stating their belief that if Visconti does not win then we all deserve Malloy and the consequences that will come from Malloy's re-election. This hostage-election situation makes Visconti's campaign nothing less than a torpedo aimed, under false colors, trying to sink Foley, instead of sinking the anti-Rights regime of Malloy. It is almost as if Visconti is deliberately trying to help Malloy win and float away unscathed. Visconti claims to want citizen Rights restored, yet he continues to allow Malloy to flatter him and encourage him, knowing all the while that he, Visconti, cannot win this race for Governor. How can Visconti claim to have the interests of citizen Rights at heart, when he continues to play into the hands of anti-Rights Malloy? Visconti's intemperate ego and illogical stubbornness has caused many people to wonder whether the Visconti campaign might actually be run by the Malloy campaign. While that is only idle speculation, without any evidence, one thing is for certain, the Visconti campaign is not about ‘gun rights’ or the right to bear arms, it is about him as an individual candidate who does not have the best interests of Connecticut residents in mind. From where we view this, Visconti, for his own personal gain, is exploiting his supporters who yearn for the uninfringed right to self-defense.

Normally, such a third person campaign would not be great concern. However, Visconti’s support has been variously polled at 9%. Despite the ridiculously low number that 9% represents, in most elections; in the context of THIS election, that 9% may be more than enough to hand the election to Governor Malloy. In the last election, Tom Foley only lost by 6%. According to the various polls, this race is shaping up to be an even closer one. Worse still, Visconti has somehow convinced himself and his supporters that, although he is polling at 9% (or less), they think and believe that he is not just capable of winning the election, but they insist that he is likely to win the election. Wishful thinking is nothing new in politics, but in this case, the wishful thinking of Visconti and his supporters may well cause the sounding of the death knell for our constitutional Rights in this state.

For months Connecticut Carry has been discussing the likely ramifications of Malloy’s re-election. If Malloy is re-elected, there will be nothing that anyone can do to slow the collectivist march of the anti-rights organizations and politicians. IF Malloy is re-elected, we may well expect that he will try to push for the complete denial and excision of the Right to carry a firearm, even going so far as to try to have our Constitution re-written to remove Section 15. So, if we can't, won't, or don't oust Malloy in this election, do NOT be surprised at his next drastic anti-Rights, anti-gun policy focus. Losing the Right to carry a firearm is the area where we have the most to lose.

For pro-Rights citizens, the simple truth of this election is the question of, how can we remove Governor Dannel Malloy from office? For pro-Rights people, this is an absolute must. We are already burdened by unconstitutional and grievous gun laws. IF we endure the Visconti-made schism among pro-Rights voters, we also must face the distinct possibility of a Malloy win. A Malloy win would certainly bring about a most horrible flood of gun laws that would even more drastically hurt our way of life, worse than any of us have imagined, until now.

Although most of us now recognize the need for Visconti to drop out of the race and to support Foley, there is, still, a small contingent of people who persist in asking questions like ‘What do we know about Tom Foley’? Most importantly, we KNOW that Foley is NOT Governor Malloy. We KNOW that Foley has not gone out of his way to infringe upon the Rights of citizens, as Malloy has done. We also KNOW that the STRONGEST message we can send to politicians, and the anti-gun crowd, is to remove Governor Malloy from office. And, we KNOW that Tom Foley is polling at 50+%, with Dannel Malloy teetering at about the same level. Therefore, we KNOW that Tom Foley is the only candidate who stands ANY CHANCE of being elected to oust Malloy, if we do NOT want Malloy to get back in. But, Foley can ONLY beat Malloy IF we all stick together. Vote for Foley, against Malloy. We KNOW that we can ONLY get Malloy out IF we vote for Foley and do NOT vote for that third candidate.

Is all lost? Should we just give up? NO! But, this needs your absolute attention. Pro-Rights citizens have a LOT of work to do, yet, to get every pro-Rights, anti-Malloy voter to the polls on Election Day, and to get those voters to vote for Foley. You need to talk to everyone that you can and let them know that there is only box to check, this election: VOTE FOLEY to unseat Malloy. It is going to require every single one of us getting out there and doing it. We hate that there is no other reasonable choice, but this is how these battles are won. It is time to do the right thing and just get Malloy out. Once Malloy is out of office, THEN we get to play the long game and work on getting better candidates to run for office. Voting for Visconti will accomplish none of these goals.

Rally everyone you can and vote Malloy out of office. We only get one chance at this.

Rich Burgess

President, Connecticut Carry

Burgess is right to point out that more firearm restrictions will happen under a second Malloy regime, but that is beside the main point. We won't have to worry about future legislation since the shooting will have already begun before that happens. Malloy and Lawlor are merely waiting for the re-election to be over to begin the gun raids. Gentlemen and ladies, I predict to you that if Malloy is re-elected there will be dead innocents at the hands of the Connecticut State Police by January, thus beginning the next American civil war. Viscounti must have heard the same rumors wafting out of the Governor's office that I have. He must know what portends.

Was Viscounti screwed over by the CT GOP elite in the primary process? His supporters say that he was and I have no reason to doubt it. Is he the "better" candidate on firearm rights than Foley? Connecticut Carry, CCDL (who still seems to have lost my address and phone number -- rumor has it that I make them nervous) and other people in CT I trust seem to doubt it. But let's say for the sake of argument that he is. We are not playing for ideological debating points here, or even political principle. What hangs over this election more than any other in this election cycle or in any since 1860 is nothing less than civil war -- butchery of innocents on a vast scale. For what starts in Connecticut under the anti-American, Soviet-loving Mike Lawlor will not stay in Connecticut. This is not hypothetical. Based on the promises of the antis in the Malloy regime this is as real as it gets.

So one must ask, is this what Joe Viscounti had in mind when he decided to assuage his case of bruised ego and chapped ass at the way he has been treated?

Viscounti has been quoted as saying, "I'll either get traction, and take this race in a three- or four-way, or I'll be irrelevant." I disagree. If the fears expressed above by firearm owners and activists in his state of Viscounti's effect on the Connecticut election come to pass, history will NOT record him as "irrelevant." It may record instead the first known case of a civil war being attributable directly to a bruised ego and a chapped ass.