CCRKBA HONORS CT REP. CRAIG FISHBEIN AS LEGISLATOR OF THE YEAR FOR 2026

BELLEVUE, WA – Connecticut State Rep. Craig Fishbein has been honored by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms as the 2026 Legislator of the Year.

In addition to being a state lawmaker, noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, Fishbein is also a litigator; an attorney who has been part of the team which put together the Connecticut Citizens Defense League’s challenge to the state’s ban on so-called “assault weapons,” which is now before the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I’m very surprised and very happy,” Fishbein said during the awards ceremony at this year’s Gun Rights Policy Conference in Dallas. “I thank you very much for this.”

First elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives during a special election to fill a vacant seat in November 2016, Fishbein was first named Ranking Member of the legislature’s powerful Judiciary Committee for the 2021-2022 session by House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora, and reappointed to the role each session, including for the 2025-2027 session, according to his official biography. He has also served as a member of the Wallingford Town Council since January of 2010.

His dual role as a lawmaker and litigator has put Fishbein in “a unique position,” allowing him to bring other lawmakers into the Second Amendment arena, Gottlieb noted.

The case now before the Supreme Court is known as Grant v. Higgins. Oral arguments will be held Wednesday, Dec. 2. This case is consolidated with a case out of Illinois known as Viramontes v. Cook County, which challenges that county’s ban on modern semiautomatic rifles.