If you’re an anti-gun governor looking to decrease your state’s $3.6 billion deficit, where do you begin? The answer couldn’t be easier for Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy—you start with your most reviled group, and penalize them with the heftiest of fees.
Malloy’s new budget proposes a four-fold increase in pistol permit fees—from $70 to a whopping $300. He’s also wanting to raise the five-year pistol permit fee from $140 to $370 and background check fees from $50 to $75. In other words, he’s penalizing any citizen who wants to own or use a gun simply because he himself is vehemently opposed to them.
“The increase of pistol permit fees 400 percent is astronomical,” said Scott Wilson, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League (CCDL). And while CCDL members and other gun owners have reached out to Malloy to express their concern, Wilson believes it’s wasted effort. "It's no secret that Gov. Malloy really does not care about gun rights or Second Amendment rights or gun owners in the state of Connecticut,” he said.
