The New Republic is claiming that the future of the entire gun control movement hinges upon the recall elections of anti-gun Colorado state senators Angela Giron and John Morse.

I’d be tempted to blow it off as mindless hyperbole, if gun control groups weren’t dumping cash into the races like their very lives depend upon it:

Angela Giron, one of two Colorado state senators who is up for a recall election on Sept. 10 as a result of voting for new gun restrictions earlier this year, did not hesitate when I asked her over the weekend what the recall meant for New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and the rest of the national gun-control movement.

“For Mayors Against Illegal Guns, if they lose even one of these seats, they might as well fold it up. And they understand that,” she said.

Indeed they do. Reports filed Tuesday night with the Colorado Secretary of State show that Bloomberg has donated $350,000 to one of several groups fighting against the recall. And he’s not the only one writing big checks from out of state: philanthropist Eli Broad gave the same group $250,000. Meanwhile, on the other side, the National Rifle Association reported sinking more than $100,000 into the recall effort, while Americans for Prosperity, the group funded by the Koch brothers, is also very active—it’s running the most aggressive field operation against the two senators, though it doesn’t have to report what it’s spending because it is technically only “educating” voters about the senators’ positions, not explicitly advocating for their recall.

At this moment, Bloomberg is the face of the gun control movement; Sarah Brady hasn’t been a significant force in more than a decade, and none of the other pretenders to the gun control throne have attained the relevance of a one-hit boy band. Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal All Guns pushed hard for Colorado’s gun control laws, to the point of helping author them.

State Senate President Morse and Senator Giron staked their future on Bloomberg having the clout to protect them from gun owners… and so far, Bloomberg and MAAG have failed. They were unable to stop the petition drive, unable to get the recalls successfully challenged in court, and are now heavily outspending pro-gun groups.  New Republic’s own figures above suggest two rich Democrats alone are outspending pro-liberty groups in these recall elections by as much as 6-to-1.

If Giron or Morse go down, it will spend a shock-wave through anti-gun Democrats nationwide. If both fall, it will likely decapitate the gun control movement in Colorado, and signal that a movement to rollback the unconstitutional gun laws passed post-Sandy Hook is viable.

No wonder Bloomberg is spending money in Colorado like the future of the gun control movement depends upon it.

It very well may.