I suppose it’s possible that the throngs of tens of thousands of angry white women demanding Colorado Gov. Jared Polis issue an executive action banning all gun sales and possession of firearms will still descend on the state capitol in Denver, Colorado, but the first few hours of the planned sit-in by the gun prohibition group Here 4 The Kids was a much more sedate affair than what was predicted by organizer Saira Rao.

100s are participating in a gun safety sit-in at the CO Capitol this morning, organized by #Here4TheKids. #Denver mayor candidate Mike Johnston spoke with some of the demonstrators. pic.twitter.com/4rK45K5r1X

— Quentin Young (@qpyoungnews) June 5, 2023

Hundreds of women are gathered outside of at the state Capitol right now.

A group called, #Here4TheKids want @GovofCO to sign an executive order to ban guns and start a statewide buyback program.@9NEWS pic.twitter.com/zZh8HWoySc

— Briana Fernandez (@BrianaFernNews) June 5, 2023

#here4thekids #denver pic.twitter.com/uYWKsJiBHo

— Amy Brooks (she/her) (@bourbonswan) June 5, 2023

Yeah, there were probably a couple hundred protestors at the state capitol on Monday morning as the sit-in kicked off, but nowhere near the numbers that Rao said would be on hand for the sit-in.

 Tens of thousands of white women have signed up to participate in a sit-in at the Colorado Capitol that will start at 5 a.m. June 5, she says; Rao expects that number to grow over the next few weeks.

You know what tens of thousands of people protesting at a state capitol looks like? This:

I took that picture from just outside the state capitol building in Richmond, Virginia in January 2020, when somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 Second Amendment supporters showed up for the Virginia Citizens Defense League’s Lobby Day rally in opposition to Demcrats’ plans for a ban on the sale and possession of so-called assault weapons. It was bitterly cold that day, with temperatures in the single digits, but Mother Nature couldn’t keep the crowds away from the capitol and the surrounding downtown streets. Compare that scene to the “crowd” assembled in Denver on a beautiful early summer morning.

#here4thekids #here4thekidsaction #denvercolorado Come join us in imagining communities free of gun terror. You can remotely support this growing movement at https://t.co/MotwTPtH6A! pic.twitter.com/XrhHjcxipe

— Amy Brooks (she/her) (@bourbonswan) June 5, 2023

Honestly, it’s hard to call that a “crowd” at all, even when most of those in attendance jammed up tight for a photo-op.

Ban Guns Not Books! We’re here with here4thekids action ✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿Moms coming out in the thousands for a sit-in protest at Denver Capitol. #here4thekids #banguns pic.twitter.com/i0ns33AhCy

— The Political Revolution (@OurPoliticalRev) June 5, 2023

The turnout isn’t non-existent, but the relatively small number of protesters is a far cry from what Rao predicted we’d witness today.

“This is civil disobedience,” Rao says. “This is a sit-in. This is a rising up of the people we have never seen in America in our lifetime.”

And it’s just the start. “It’s literally history,” she continues. “This is going to be probably the biggest thing that will have happened in any of our lifetimes. This is going to be a ‘Where were you on June 5?’ And I hope all you white folks are able to say, ‘I was in Denver.’”

Biggest thing to happen in our lifetimes? This may not even have been the biggest gun control protest at the state capitol in Denver this year, and Polis has once again poured cold water on the protests by reiterating that he won’t be complying with their demands.

“The Governor shares the concerns about improving public safety including reducing gun violence, which is why the Governor is committed to making Colorado one of the top ten safest states.

He appreciates this year’s historic commonsense efforts of the legislature to help accomplish this goal including imposing tougher laws against auto theft, upgrading the state Crime Lab, and improving gun safety.

Staff has met with the organizers and have expressed concerns that the requests being made are either unconstitutional or require legislative action. The Governor takes the weighty responsibility of executive action and the trust Coloradans placed in him to govern responsibly seriously, and will not issue an unconstitutional order that will be struck down in court simply to make a public relations statement — he will continue to focus on real solutions to help make Colorado one of the ten safest states. 

 

As we discuss on today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co, while the push to repeal the Second Amendment may become more popular in anti-gun circles in the not-too-distant future, for now most of the big gun control groups want nothing to do with forcefully demanding an end to gun ownership. In fact, when Gabby Giffords recently dared to say what was really on her mind and tell a reporter that she wants to eradicate gun ownership, her handlers tried to walk back her statement lest it interfere with their narrative that they’re only calling for “reasonable restrictions” and “commonsense measures.”

While the anti-gun lobby is still taking an incrementalist approach, Democrats looking to go big on eradicating our right to keep and bear arms are pinning their hopes on packing the Supreme Court full of justices that will overturn Heller, McDonald, and Bruen, and that requires capturing both chambers of Congress as well as keeping the White House in 2024. I suspect that if the left is unable to take control of the legislative and executive branches of the federal government next year we’ll start to hear more talk from the left about repealing the Second Amendment outright, but for now Rao’s quest is too premature for the gun control lobby to get on board with her demands… at least in public.