Where does Colorado’s Congressional delegation stand on gun access?

A customer at ABQ Guns in Albuquerque. Recent mass shootings have reignited the debate over gun legislation, including red flag laws and expanded background checks.
A customer at ABQ Guns in Albuquerque. Recent mass shootings have reignited the debate over gun legislation, including red flag laws and expanded background checks. (Photo by Sergio Flores/Bloomberg, Getty Images)

WASHINGTON – A heated debate over gun control awaits the U.S. Congress when lawmakers return to Capitol Hill next month, but Colorado Republicans don’t appear likely to back any sweeping reforms. 

In response to requests from the Colorado Independent, only one of the four Republicans in Colorado’s U.S. congressional delegation suggested he may be willing to support a legislative option for curbing access to guns. 

GOP Rep. Scott Tipton (R-3rd), a gun rights supporter, said in a statement that solutions to end gun violence are “difficult to achieve.”

 But his spokesman Matt Atwood said Tipton may be open to “red flag” proposals, which would allow firearms to be confiscated from those deemed a threat to themselves or others. He “wants to make sure due process is not violated,” Atwood said.

Enacted in 17 states – including Colorado — and the District of Columbia, such laws were endorsed by President Donald Trump after recent mass shootings in Texas, Ohio and California. Colorado’s version of red flag, which goes into effect in January, has been controversial, with roughly half of the state’s sheriffs or county commissions declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries, citing concerns over due process. Other Colorado sheriffs have been actively advocating for the law, saying it will save lives. 

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McConnell has said the chamber will debate gun control when lawmakers reconvene from recess in September, and some top congressional Republicans have expressed an increased willingness to wade into the politically thorny territory. But it’s far from certain that lawmakers will reach a deal on the divisive issue where compromise has eluded them in the past. 

“The fact that Mitch McConnell and [South Carolina Republican Sen.] Lindsey Graham and Donald Trump all feel some level of pressure to at least say that they are going to consider some gun violence prevention bills is a pretty big sign of progress,” said Chelsea Parsons, vice president of gun violence prevention policy at the Center for American Progress. 

The other GOP members of Colorado’s delegation didn’t respond to requests for comment about whether they might support gun control legislation, but they’ve been reluctant to do so in the past.

Sen. Cory Gardner called the shootings in Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton “devastating” at a recent event in Aspen but reiterated that he “does not support gun control,” according to the VailDaily.

  GOP Reps. Ken Buck and Doug Lamborn (4th and 5th Districts) have received high marks from Gun Owners of America (GOA), a conservative pro-gun group. In February, Tipton, Buck and Lamborn voted against legislation that would require background checks on all firearm sales and increase the background check length from three to 10 days.

Meanwhile, Colorado Democrats have gotten more aggressive on the issue, especially after shootings in their home state. 

  “In the past, our Democrats were iffy on guns up there in Washington,” said Eileen McCarron, president of Colorado Ceasefire Legislative Action, an advocacy group. “But they aren’t now.”

 To start, there are now four Democrats in the U.S. House – up from three in the last Congress. All four are members of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and support major gun safety legislation, such as expanding universal background checks and banning assault weapons.

 In the Senate, Democrat Michael Bennet – who’s running for the White House in 2020 – also supports major gun safety legislation, according to his spokeswoman Courtney Gidner. Earlier in his tenure, however, voted to allow Amtrak passengers to carry guns in checked bags — a vote in line with the gun rights movement.

 While Bennet is “not a leader on this, by any means,” McCarron said Democrats have “moved in a stronger position” since she began working on the issue in 1999 – the year two teen gunmen killed 13 people at Columbine High School in Littleton.

 She attributes the long-term trend in part to “the awful things that have happened here.”

 In 2012, another gunman opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora, killing 12 and wounding 70 others. This year, nine students were shot – one fatally – at the STEM School Highlands Ranch in Douglas County.

 McCarron also cites the “big blue wave” that swept across the state last fall. In addition to winning a majority of seats in the congressional delegation, Democrats won all statewide offices and majority control of the state House and Senate – a phenomenon that hasn’t happened since 1936.

Last fall’s elections showed that gun safety is not the “third rail” it once was — even in the West. In the 6th District in the central part of the state, Democratic Rep. Jason Crow, a hunter and former Army ranger, staked his campaign in part on gun violence prevention — making it the subject of his first campaign ad. He beat Mike Coffman, a five-term Republican, by more than 10 points.

 Calls for action

 This month, Colorado Democrats are making loud calls for action on guns — especially in the wake of the recent mass shootings.

 Bennet is among those who have called for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to cut the August recess short and reconvene the Senate to take up the issue, Gidner said.

 So have the state’s four House Democrats: Crow and Reps. Diana DeGette (1st District), Joe Neguse (2nd District) and Ed Perlmutter (7th District). They signed a joint letter to McConnell urging him reconvene the Senate to clear the background check legislation passed earlier this year by the House (which all four supported). 

DeGette earlier today tweeted that the House Judiciary Committee would be returning from recess early to take up gun legislation.

 They’re making the case in the national news media and on social media, too.

 McConnell “must stop playing political games and bring gun safety bills to the Senate floor,” Crow wrote this week in a USA Today op-ed. “Senators must have the courage to tell the American people where they stand and not hide behind the majority leader any longer.”

 “Americans are ready for action,” Perlmutter said in a statement. “If empty promises continue to be made, the American people will have the opportunity to decide how to move our country forward.”

Here’s how much each Colorado’s lawmaker has received from gun control or gun rights groups during their congressional career, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The nonpartisan organization tallies contributions dating back to 1989 from political action committees. The numbers include donations from individuals who gave $200 or more to members of Congress, but also include some smaller contributions.

Sen. Cory Gardner: $91,471 from gun rights groups

Sen. Michael Bennet: $18,671 from gun control groups

Rep. Diana DeGette: $6,250 from gun control groups

Rep. Joe Neguse: $3,000 from gun control groups

Rep. Scott Tipton: $89,380 from gun rights groups

Rep. Ken Buck: $89,873 from gun rights groups

Rep. Doug Lamborn: $48,440 from gun rights groups

Rep. Jason Crow: $13 from gun rights groups and $50,082 from gun control groups

Rep. Ed Perlmutter: $6,800 from gun control groups

Newsroom’s Washington bureau chief Robin Bravender contributed to this report.

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13 COMMENTS

  1. It’s about 10,000 times more important where SCOTUS stands:

    See: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/07pdf/07-290.pdf

    Also see: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-1521.pdf

    None of the expanded criminal background checks — such as requiring Grandpa to make his 12-year-old granddaughter pass a criminal background check before he can give her a .22 rifle for Christmas — would have prevented any mass shooting. As long as mentally ill individuals who have clearly expressed violent intentions, as James Holmes did to his psychiatrist long before the Aurora movie theater shooting, are allowed to escape involuntary commitment to secure psychiatric facilities they’ll continue murderous rampages. Let opportunistic politicians work on that!

    Talk of confiscating / banning firearms is a non-starter, given the SCOTUS decisions cited above, and anyone who believes the Second Amendment could be repealed is delusional.

  2. Or the gun control lobby, as the graph shows Rep. Crow taking $50,000+ from them. I don’t have any problem with that, so long as pro-gun groups can balance it out.

  3. That was rhetorical of course. Republicans can’t win at the ballot box so their plan is to shape America towards their minority held beliefs using extremist judicial appointments.

    A la Moscow Mitch.

  4. You’re helping to re-elect Trump. I didn’t vote for him in 2016, and still dislike much of his bluster, but I support his administration’s policies at home and abroad.

    Besides FREE STUFF (which is a mirage) what are Far Left Dems offering?

  5. Well then once again I’m comforted by the fact that, as in 2016, the majority of voters don’t agree with you, but I certainly support your right to express your minority held beliefs.

    When you speak of “free stuff” from politicians, are you talking about tax cuts for the .1% and the biggest corporations?

    Trickle down is 0-4, so how is the “free stuff” for the wealthiest not on your radar screen, instead of “free stuff” for the poorest?

    That’s a big question for “Christian” Conservatives, no?

  6. I guess you didn’t get the memo….gun lobbyists don’t get to drape themselves in the flag or flourish borrowed valor in an effort to bolster their credibility.

  7. Jay, why ask me? I’m an agnostic and a moderate. But, I must say that the Far Left scares me much more than Christians do.

    Coming from the background I do, I saw the results of homeless people being caught up in the social services system and the web of private nonprofits with their bogus “programs” to reform people who weren’t willing to change.

    Much better to live as a hermit in the countryside.

  8. Get out of here, hand your rights over to our criminal state, NOT MINE. You have to be brain dead not to know what is up here. It is simply amazing, in the light of how criminal the US governemnt in in its illegal wars around the world, yet here at home you trust them…America would still be a slave to England for cowardice of people like you.

Comments are closed.