Seconding speech

Gubernatorial candidate Joe Visconti, a Second Amendment activist with tea party ties from West Hartford, speaks with a representative of the National Rifle Association in the lobby of the state Republican convention at Mohegan Sun Friday, May 16, 2014. By Neil Vigdor

Gubernatorial candidate Joe Visconti, a Second Amendment activist with tea party ties from West Hartford, speaks with a representative of the National Rifle Association in the lobby of the state Republican convention at Mohegan Sun Friday, May 16, 2014. By Neil Vigdor

UNCASVILLE — The recruiting trail for the National Rifle Association has found its way to Connecticut.

The Second Amendment group, marshaling its resources and war chest in the aftermath of the December 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, has a recruitment table strategically positioned in the lobby of the state Republican convention at Mohegan Sun.

It is signing Republicans up for its FrontLines Volunteer program, a grassroots initiative to help with “protecting and promoting the Second Amendment.”

A NRA representative at the table, which was covered in buttons and signs, said she was not immediately authorized to speak for the national organization.

The gun rights group is also registering people to vote.

Twenty children, none of them older than 7, and six adult females died in the shooting, prompting Connecticut to expand its ban of assault weapons, limit gun magazine capacity to 10 rounds and require universal background checks for firearms and ammunition.

A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that 56 percent of respondents support the tougher restrictions on guns, while 38 percent oppose them.

Neil Vigdor