Aurora Sentinal Endorses Victim Disarmament

The Sentinel published an editorial endorsing whatever new gun laws the Dems want to propose. I'm sure they will, and ram them down our throats just like 2013. The reaction of the electorate remains to be seen. Here's an annotated version of the editorial. My comments in green:

Colorado Dems must go with the political flow and enact gun safety bills now

By

 THE SENTINEL EDITORIAL BOARD

January 3, 2019

1128

The tide has turned at the state Capitol, and it’s time to seize the opportunity to make Colorado safer.

Appeal to personal safety even though nothing proposed here is likely to contribute to it. Persons made safer consist of mostly violent criminals and corrupt politicians.

Democratic legislators and Colorado’s new governor, who effectively now control state government, would make a grievous mistake by finally enacting long overdue gun-safety legislation.

I'm pretty sure this is a typo although it may well be the only true statement here.

The once-honorable National Rifle Association has evolved to become a ruthless political arm of the nation’s $43-billion-a-year gun industry. Its clear focus is to ensure the easy and prolific procurement, use and sale of firearms and ammunition.

The NRA is not now nor has it ever been a representative of the firearms industry. It is the advocate of the firearms owner. The memberships biggest complaint is that they are too willing to compromise.

Over the past few decades, the NRA and groups such as Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and the Independence Institute have deviously woven a gun-rights mythology with fierce patriotism.

It’s not in any way patriotic to turn firearms on fellow citizens upwards of 100,000 times a year.

Upwards of 60,000 of which are citizens turning them on themselves for whatever reason. Most of the remainder is citizens turning them on (for the most part) fellow citizens in disputes over who owns what corner to sell drugs on or to redistribute other peoples wealth.

Colorado residents are the unwitting subjects of a vastly expensive and relentless marketing scheme coupled with an ocean of money spent annually on ensuring compliance from obedient and fearful members of Congress and the Colorado Legislature.

Don't see what you have to complain about. Michael Bloomberg, Tom Styer and George Soros can spend their money however they wish. Buying the legislature isn't illegal if you do it right.

The NRA mythology is pegged on equating the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, guaranteeing free speech, with the Second Amendment, preserving the ability of citizen militias to help defend the nation against foreign invaders. They have worked tirelessly to persuade Congress and Colorado voters that there should be no regulation of firearms in the same way there is virtually no regulation of speech.

The second amendment is there to preserve the citizens right to speak freely and all the rest of the stuff covered in the bill of rights. The first amendment is currently heavily regulated against anyone complaining about politically imposed tyranny by way of forbidding among other things “hate speech”, which BTW is anything anyone disagrees with.

The result is a chaotic free-for-all where about 100,000 Americans are killed or maimed each year by firearms. We are killed and wounded by guns at a rate that is 25 times higher than any other developed democratic nation. It is our nation’s biggest embarrassment and preventable tragedy.

First leave out the suicides. Tragic as they might be, if guns are not available, people come up with alternatives. The rate does not change. Second, if you leave out 2 or 3 precincts in 3 or 4 large (Democrat run) cities, our gun death rate drops to 3^rd or 4^th lowest in the world.

For those who insist gun-safety measures won’t reduce gun violence and mass murders, the dozens of free, Democratic nations across the globe that protect the rights of hunters and sportsmen and reasonably regulate firearms are proof that it can be done.

Can't win the argument on facts, change the argument. The 2^nd amendment isn't about ducks. It's about politicians. Also remember to never call it gun control. It's to be called gun safety. There are only 4 rules for gun safety. Ever hear an anti-gun pol speak them? Me neither.

Colorado Democrat Party leaders should set aside talk of the last time Democrats had this kind of control in 2013 and pushed through measures to ensure background checks and magazine size. The two bills were born of the Aurora theater shooting massacre and were only the start of a long list of work needing to be done to rein in rampant gun violence.

Abridging the constitutional rights of ones political enemies is a long established pastime of the Democratic party. Disarming ones political enemies is as old as political enemies. Hitler disarmed the Jews, and the Dems passed Jim Crow laws and Black Codes. With only minor changes, they're still pushing these.

Shortly after, Republican extremists surprisingly and successfully recalled two lawmakers over their support of the gun bills. The recall was pulled off in a special election that few voters took notice of. Even if the same extremists pulled the same stunt again, voters and Democrats are wise to the scam.

I knew a lot of those who worked on the recalls. The elections were widely reported, and no one I met could reasonably be labeled an extremist. The 3^rd legislator who was up for recall, Evie Hudak, recognized her impending defeat and resigned before her loss could flip the Colorado Senate.

Some Democrats are fearful of certain backlash from gun-rights and right-wing extremists if they act now on pushing through a red-flag bill and other gun-safety measures that can provably save lives. They should step down now. Every lawmaker was sent by voters to the state Capitol to do a job, not to work to preserve their power.

Finally something I can agree with! The only job any legislator has that might be considered Job #1 is self preservation. If some anti gun billionaire from out of state or even out of country wants a law passed, all he has to do is send a copy of his pet legislation to the head of the local DNC politely suggesting that anyone not supporting this law WILL be facing a well-funded opponent in the next primary race.

The political tide, however, has strategically turned across the state. A majority of voters here have made it clear they no longer believe the outrageous lies generated by the NRA and other gun lobbyists. Voters see through the empty rhetoric of the far-right and have overwhelmingly pushed back against the government of President Donald Trump.

In a typical election year, about 30% of the electorate does not return the ballots they were mailed. The alignment of these “non voters” is about 50/50. The Evil party has figured out how to find the otherwise non-voted ballots on their side of the fence and get a significant percentage of them into the box. The Stupid party hasn't yet figured this out. If they do (30% chance), before the 2020 elections, AND if the Evil party over reaches in the meantime (80% chance) the balance of power can swing back toward the center.

History, voters, common sense and righteousness are on the side of Democrats and Republicans who know that realistic gun-safety legislation can and will reduce gun violence and deaths.

History and God are with us! Wait, I think I've heard that line before.

Start now in Colorado.

Drop on down to Venezuela first. They already have all of your agenda in place. Ask them how it's working out. When all is said and done, I've never seen an anti-gun law that didn't benefit primarily the criminal class. For the lawmakers who propose such things, this is a plus as the resultant increase in crime rates provides justification for more anti-gun laws until the law-abiding population is completely disarmed. Malcontents can then be safely picked up and jailed. See Tony Robinson for an example.