Argyle was a bold choice.

Even more so, was the decision by Jason Paul, a Democrat from Colchester running for the General Assembly on a gun control platform, to picket a Second Amendment rally outside the Capitol in Hartford this past Saturday all by his lonesome.

Paul, 27, posted the photo above on his Facebook page, adding flammable accelerant to the already smoldering debate over gun control in Connecticut in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

With his back to a crowd of gun owners, many of them waving the tea party-adopted “Don’t Tread on Me” Gadsen flag, Paul held up as sign saying: “NRA values are not Connecticut values.”

“The only brave thing you did was leaving the house in that sweater,” wrote a Facebook user who identified himself as Steve Williams Jr. on Paul’s Facebook wall. “There were thousands there shoulder-to-shoulder in support of their rights and it looks like the only other person supporting your absurd views was behind the camera. I think you’re confused about what the word ‘majority’ means.”

Paul, who is already being dubbed by some talking heads as “sweater boy,” has his defenders, however.

They pointed to a March 6 Quinnipiac University poll in which 57 percent of respondents said they supported tougher gun control measures adopted in response to the massacre in Newtown.

“The number of people at a rally is far from an indication of public opinion,” wrote a Facebook user identifying himself as Kiernan Majerus-Collins. “Check the polling numbers. They don’t look good for your point of view.”

A 2009 graduate of Brandeis University, Paul is scheduled to earn his law degree from the University of Connecticut this year.

The 48th District includes the portions of Colchester, Lebanon, Windham and Mansfield. The latter is shared with the 54th District, which contains the village of Storrs and is home to UConn.