Colorado Voted to Ban Most Everything About Guns – The Results?

Colorado Voted to Ban Most Everything About Guns – The Results? 

Colorado Voted to Ban Most Everything About Guns – The Results? Read Here

March 12, 2013

The Colorado legislature is pressing forward with significant gun control bills, although the Democrats controlling the legislature were forced to withdraw the two most extreme measures – one banning guns on college campuses, and the other holding “assault weapon” owners liable for damages their weapons may have caused.
The political battle in the Colorado legislature has been intense as the state that was once part of the Western traditional of readily available weapons heads ever further in the direction of strict gun control. Part of the impetus for the legislation following the Sandy Hook tragedy derives from fact that Colorado has seen two mass shootings in the past 14 years: the first at Columbine High School in 1999, and the second last year at suburban movie theater near Denver.
The Democrats apparently did not touch upon the fact that both shootings took place in sites that the shooters had reason to believe housed sizable populations of unarmed people. Nor would the Democrat legislators address the fact that the killers at both the high school and the movie theater had histories of psychotropic drug use – this despite the fact that Republicans argued that, rather than controlling guns, the legislature should focus on mental health.
As Republican Sen. Scott Renfroe said, “We can make as many laws as we want. Until we change the hearts of man, they’re going to continue to do evil things.”
The Democrats’ refusal to focus on mental health issues is significant. With the exception of those shooters who heeded Islam’s call for jihad, all of the mass shootings in America in the last decades have involved young men taking psychiatric drugs, although it’s unclear whether those drugs failed to control psychopathic tendencies or exacerbated them. Ironically enough, all of the shooters (including those answering jihad’s call) were also all Democrats or came from Democrat backgrounds:

Given that single controlling factor, one could say that, If we want to control gun violence, we shouldn’t ban guns; we should ban Democrats.
Unwilling to ban themselves, of course, Colorado Democrats instead lined up seven gun control measures:

• Senate Bill 195 would ban online certification for concealed carry permits and require people to attend classes in person.
• Senate Bill 196 would hold those who manufacture and sell semiautomatic weapons liable for injuries that result from their use.
• Senate Bill 197 would ban some domestic violence abusers from owning guns.
• House Bill 1224 as originally written would have limited gun ammunition magazines to 15 rounds. It has since been amended to exclude the “standard shotgun.”
• House Bill 1226 would ban concealed weapons on college campuses.
• House Bill 1228 would require gun buyers to pay for their own background checks.
• House Bill 1229 would require background checks for all gun transfers, including private sales.

With the exception of Senate Bill 196 (imposing liability those who manufacture or sell semiautomatic weapons) and House Bill 1226 (banning concealed-carry on campus), all of the above bills have advanced to the Colorado Senate.  That House Bill 1226 didn’t even make it to a vote was no surprise.  Those advocating on its behalf made fools of themselves by appearing to be more concerned about rapists than victims, and by telling a rape victim that there was nothing she could have done to stop the attack.
The White House, hoping that a state which has a reputation for political moderation will increase pressure on gun owners, reportedly had Vice President Joe Biden phone Democrat legislators to keep the pressure on them despite constituent opposition.
Although Democrats did keep five out of the seven proposed gun control bills alive, the legislative battle was a tough one, with tempers rising during the marathon debate. At the end of the day, however, Democrats claimed that they were advancing an agenda that not only controlled guns, but still managed to be gun friendly.
Democratic Sen. Mike Johnston stressed his gun bona fides when he said “I’m a gun owner, and I have been since I was 12 years old. What is before us is not a constitutional question but a policy question.”
On the surface, Sen. Johnston’s statement sounds as if the Legislature is imposing only the most reasonable controls. (Sen. Bill 197, for example, which bans those convicted of domestic violence from owning guns, actually makes sense.) Taking all five bills together, though, it becomes clear that that Sen. Johnston and his fellow Democrats are pushing policies that — by increasing expenses and bureaucratic hurdles for law-abiding citizens, and by decreasing their access to reliable defensive weapons — will make it extremely difficult for future generations of Coloradans to join Sen. Johnston as gun owners.
In other words, by advancing their gun control policies, Sen. Johnston and his fellow Democrats are working hard to infringe upon “the right of the people to keep and bear arms.”
In addition, by advancing House Bill 1224, the Democrats may also hurt their state’s economy.  Magpul Industries has already announced that it will pull out of Colorado if House Bill 1224 passes.  Doing so will affect jobs and tax revenue:

Magpul Industries directly employs 200 people, supports another 400 supply-chain jobs, and contributes over $85 million annually to Colorado’s economy. Doug Smith, Chief Operating Officer for Magpul, says that it is a difficult position to be in. “We could choose to stay in a state that wants our jobs and revenue, but not our products, and lose half the jobs we are fighting to save, or potentially the entire business, when our customers stop buying. Or, we can take the company and those 600 jobs out of Colorado to continue our growth and the growth of American manufacturing in a state that shares our values. This is not really a choice. It’s an unfortunate and inevitable result of the actions of the Legislature if this bill passes.”

The Colorado Democrats dress things up as much as they want, but it’s apparent that they are embarking upon a course of action that does not affect the root causes of mass murder (and usually Democrats just love root causes); that impinges upon the Second Amendment; and that will harm the Colorado economy. Way to go, Democrats!