Colorado used to be pretty cool on guns. It wasn't that different than most other states, but then the Aurora theater shooting happened, and it seemed that everything changed overnight.
Since then, the state has been on an anti-gun jihad.
Now, the state more closely resembles California, with respect to gun laws, than anywhere else. That's not a great thing, but coupled with the rest of the state's leftward lean, I understand why the friends I had there moved.
There doesn't seem to be much hope for anything changing in the short term, either.
That's not stopping a couple of lawmakers from trying.
For more than a decade, Colorado Democrats have treated gun control as a political obsession. Not because it works. Not because it reduces crime. But because it expands government control and satisfies national activist donors.
Meanwhile, crime has increased, communities feel less safe, and the only people consistently punished are those who follow the law.
House Bill 26-1021, the Second Amendment Protection Act, is a direct rebuke of that failed agenda. It repeals sweeping gun restrictions passed in recent years and restores constitutional rights Democrats have steadily chipped away.
Year after year, they promise the next mandate will finally make Colorado safer. A waiting period. A new age restriction. Another ban. Another lawsuit. Another “reform.” None of it stops criminals.
Criminals do not submit to background checks. They do not follow magazine limits. They do not delay their crimes for three days because the legislature told them to.
Law-abiding citizens do.
That is why Democrats’ policies land hardest on working families, rural Coloradans, veterans, small business owners, and women who simply want the ability to protect themselves.
Colorado’s record speaks for itself. Auto theft and violent crime surged even as gun laws multiplied. Police departments are short staffed. Prosecutors are stretched thin. Repeat offenders cycle through a lenient system. Yet instead of confronting those failures, Democrats double down on the same reflex: restrict rights and blame gun owners.
It is easier to regulate citizens than to fix a broken justice system.
HB26-1021 changes the focus.
Basically, this would repeal most of the recent gun control laws and put the state back in a sane position with regard to the Second Amendment.
Obviously, this is a great bill, at least on the surface, and it's something that the state should absolutely pass.
For a bill like this to pass, you'd need to completely upend the legislature. As it stands now, Democrats hold two-thirds of the House and almost the same ratio in the Senate. Unless there were a lot of pro-gun Democrats--don't laugh, they exist, even if they're only slightly less rare than unicorns--hiding in the woodwork than I think there are, it was simply never going to happen. I figured it would die in committee, and that's exactly what happened on Tuesday night.
“As Colorado Democrats build on our efforts to prevent gun violence and keep Coloradans safe, House Republicans just tried to throw out every single gun violence prevention law we have passed in recent years, including our red flag law,” said Rep. Michael Carter, D-Aurora. “We have made a lot of progress in Colorado, passing data-driven policies like universal background checks and Extreme Risk Protection Orders that protect people from senseless gun violence. This bill would have repealed every tool that we have to prevent dangerous people from accessing firearms. Colorado Democrats remain committed to improving public safety and saving countless lives.”
“Colorado Democrats have passed gun violence prevention laws to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and dangerous individuals, and this bill would have undone all of that work and put our communities at risk,” said Rep. Chad Clifford, D-Centennial. “As a law enforcement officer, I’ve seen how Colorado’s gun laws equip law enforcement agencies with important tools to prevent and reduce gun violence. This bill would have completely overhauled Colorado’s laws that keep Coloradans safe, which is why Colorado Democrats defeated this bill in committee so we can continue to prevent gun-related deaths and protect Colorado communities in every corner of our state.”
I hate that, too. I'd love to see the state regain its sanity. What little I've personally seen of the state was gorgeous, and I'd love to see gun rights respected in such a beautiful place. Especially as there's some wild country there, where guns aren't just a fun pastime, but something one needs to survive.
But beneath the natural beauty is a case of the uglies. Politicians who trample people's rights just because they, personally, don't like them. Voters who moved in from other states because life there was untenable, only to transform their new state into the old, all without the self-awareness to see why that's a problem.
This needed to happen.
It didn't, and that's the true tragedy here.
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