Police arrested a 67-year-old man and seized numerous weapons -- including three assault rifles -- from his Ansonia home yesterday after he allegedly made "alarming comments" to a lawmaker while expressing his opposition to a proposed ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines.
John H. Matika was charged with second-degree harassment. He was arrested on a warrant stemming from an investigation into telephone calls received by state Rep. Linda Gentile, a Democrat from Ansonia.
Ansonia police said they seized 15 weapons from Matika's residence at 40 Edgehill Ave., included 3 assault rifles, an Uzi and numerous other long guns and handguns. Click here for more photos of the confiscated weapons.
According to Capitol police, a male caller, later indentified as Matika, "made alarming comments while expressing his opposition to pending legislation related to firearm magazine capacities."
During the calls, Matika invoked the shooting of Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and warned that if the gun bill passes, "the same thing will happen here,'' Ansonia police said.
Capitol police, working with Ansonia police, served the arrest warrant yesterday. Matika was released on a $1,000 bond. he is scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Hartford on April 8.
Gentile said she has always supported free speech and the 2nd amendment. "But this incident crossed the line,'' she said in a statement released by her office Friday afternoon.
"This individual made a direct threat against me and made specific reference to the attempted murder of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and and the tragedy that occurred in Tucson, Arizona.