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Fazio Earns Endorsement From Extreme Gun Group Working to Overturn Assault Weapons Ban

Just this month, the Connecticut Citizens Defense League (CCDL), an extreme anti-gun safety organization, got the right-wing U.S. Supreme Court to agree to hear their attack on Connecticut’s ban on assault weapons. 

Yesterday, the CCDL officially endorsed Ryan Fazio for governor.

We already knew that Ryan Fazio was the most extreme anti-gun safety gubernatorial candidate in Connecticut history. His words and his voting record leave no doubt – Ryan wants to help the gun lobby and fringe activist groups roll back post-Sandy Hook massacre gun safety laws, which he called “beyond the pale.”

In 2022, Republican nominee Bob Stefanowski did not even receive the CCDL’s endorsement. Now the CCDL is proudly calling Ryan “the first rated CCDL candidate to ever run for the Governor’s seat.”

“Ryan is a CCDL-endorsed legislator, which means Ryan has a perfect voting record,” CCDL President Holly Sullivan said in March. “He has never once in all of his time in the legislature ever voted against CCDL's interests."

The group stresses that this distinction is reserved for “candidates with a 100% voting record with CCDL,” as opposed to merely “Pro2A.” 

In addition to voting with them at every turn, Fazio happily embraced the CCDL by speaking at a meeting in March and attending their annual dinner in April, smiling in front of their “Wall of Guns.”

The threat Ryan Fazio and his friends pose to vital gun safety laws is no longer abstract. The CCDL clearly knows Ryan is one of their own, and that he will gladly represent their interests if elected.

Statement from CT Dems spokesperson Ian Clarke: 

“Ryan Fazio didn’t stumble into this endorsement – he earned it by fighting to give the gun lobby every single thing it wanted. That 100% rating means one thing: Ryan sides with special interests and ideological extremists every single time, without exception. His campaign is now proudly sponsored by the people suing to put assault weapons back on Connecticut streets."