It looks like the New Republic called this one correctly last week; national Democrats are putting everything they have in attempting to save two Colorado state senators facing a recall election for their radical anti-gun views. If John Morse and Angela Giron are defeated despite the massive spending of anti-gun groups, the fate of the gun control movement may be doomed.

The recall was a local grassroots effort as even the New York Times begrudgingly admits, but it’s out-of-state gun control fanatics that are pouring tons of money into these elections, trying to push New York values onto this western state:

Mr. Bloomberg, who has bankrolled other gun-control supporters across the country, recently contributed $350,000 to fight the recall efforts. Mr. Broad gave $250,000. Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, has stepped in on behalf of Ms. Giron, in particular, enlisting support through her Off the Sidelines political action committee.

Mr. Bloomberg “has said he is going to support officials across the country who are willing to stand up to the N.R.A. and Washington gun lobby to support sane gun laws that will keep guns out of the hands of criminals,” Marc La Vorgna, a spokesman for the mayor, said in an e-mail. “These two senators did that.”

The N.R.A. has also jumped into the Sept. 10 race, contributing nearly $109,000 for mailings and radio, cable and online ads, according to campaign finance records.

The influx of money has allowed each side to claim that its opponents are being manipulated by outside interests. One advertisement by the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners said Mr. Morse was taking “marching orders” from the “billionaire playboy” Mr. Bloomberg. A fund-raising e-mail from Senator Gillibrand called the election “a wrongful recall by the N.R.A.”

The east coast anti-gun Democrats are so worried about losing either one of these races that they’re outspending the grass-roots and National Rifle Association (which has always been active in Colorado) on this by more than 6-1.

They must. If either of these Colorado state senators is defeated, billionaire Mike Bloomberg’s already flailing Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) will be revealed as having very little actual political clout, regardless of the personal fortune Bloomberg has already thrown into his prohibitionist efforts. As the only gun control group with any influence—Brady having wilted over time, and the rest never having reached national relevance—MAIG’s defeat in Colorado might doom the brief resurgence of the gun control movement that erupted post-Newtown.

Of the two candidates facing recall elections, Senate President Morse is seen as being the most vulnerable because of the political demographic of his district is a near-even split. In Giron’s district, she has a Democrat voter base and is seen as being more secure. Demographics allowed, both senators are very vulnerable, as Second Amendment activists tend to be more politically active and motivated to move on these single-issue campaigns than anti-gun Democrats. The outcome of each election is very much in doubt, and is expected to come down to very tight races, and decided by voter turnout.

The recall has started, and the election is on September 10.