coloradokevin
Member
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2008
- Messages
- 3,285
Okay, why this idea hasn't occurred to me until now I'm not quite sure, but here are my thoughts on settling this state-level gun debate once and for all:
Instead of dealing with the ever present threat of a hostile legislature attacking our gun rights, lets amend our state's constitution to add language that would guarantee that state-level gun laws will be no more restrictive than existing federal regulations.
Some of you may laugh at this idea, but consider the following:
1) The Colorado constitution is open for amendment by popular vote, providing that the people seeking the amendment gain a sufficient number of signatures to have the issue placed on the ballot during the next election cycle (it looks like the current requirement is 86,105 signatures to have the issue added to a ballot).
2) Colorado gun owners are still active voters, and heavily involved in grassroots activism, so getting these signatures should be possible, provided we have enough people involved to make it happen.
3) Citizen-initiated amendments do happen successfully here in Colorado. I mean, seriously, they even legalized marijuana through such an initiative here this year (Amendment 64).
4) By adding such language to our state's constitution we could probably have a winnable item on the ballot: gun owners would embrace it, and most reasonable folks would not have a problem with simply ensuring that our state-level laws were no more restrictive than federal law.
5) Colorado still has a lot of very pro-gun people, in a state that is rich with a pro-gun culture. We lost our footing in one election cycle, and we're currently being attacked at the statehouse. But, if the debate over the pending laws have shown us anything, it is that there are still loads of 2nd Amendment supporters here in Colorado.
Here's some information on what is required to make this happen:
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Laws_governing_the_initiative_process_in_Colorado
So, how do we make this all happen for us? Honestly, I'm not entirely sure, but the idea seems viable.
Here's what I'm thinking:
1) Clearly we'd need the support of some gun owner groups (ex: NRA, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, etc) to make this happen, but I don't see why they'd be opposed to it. Seriously, if a bunch of pot-heads could make it happen this year, why can't we?
2) If groups like the NRA are willing to put some money into this issue, paid petitioners are also allowed to help collect signatures. Additionally, we can each get the word out at our local gun stores, ranges, gun shows and other shooting-related venues. For example, I bet I could get hundreds of signatures per day at the local Sportsman's Warehouse, and the range I belong to already has 1,000 member families. Plus, with the buying frenzy at the moment, it won't be hard to find concerned gun owners at each and every one of these venues.
3) We could encourage involvement by pro-gun legislators in this state. For example, though he doesn't represent my district, Senator Brophy has sent me quite a few very pro-gun e-mails in response to my many letters to our legislators. If someone like him was willing to join this fight, he could get word out to a LOT of gun owners who have already contacted him in recent months.
4) As a cautionary note, we would also want to be careful in our language in such a bill. We want to preserve our rights, but we want to be sure we are seen as the reasonable folks we are by the many fence-sitters we have in this state. As such, that's why I recommend that we appeal to their reasonableness by drafting an amendment that explains that we'll simply ensure that our laws are no more restrictive than federal laws (which is the way things should be on 2nd Amendment issues anyway).
Instead of dealing with the ever present threat of a hostile legislature attacking our gun rights, lets amend our state's constitution to add language that would guarantee that state-level gun laws will be no more restrictive than existing federal regulations.
Some of you may laugh at this idea, but consider the following:
1) The Colorado constitution is open for amendment by popular vote, providing that the people seeking the amendment gain a sufficient number of signatures to have the issue placed on the ballot during the next election cycle (it looks like the current requirement is 86,105 signatures to have the issue added to a ballot).
2) Colorado gun owners are still active voters, and heavily involved in grassroots activism, so getting these signatures should be possible, provided we have enough people involved to make it happen.
3) Citizen-initiated amendments do happen successfully here in Colorado. I mean, seriously, they even legalized marijuana through such an initiative here this year (Amendment 64).
4) By adding such language to our state's constitution we could probably have a winnable item on the ballot: gun owners would embrace it, and most reasonable folks would not have a problem with simply ensuring that our state-level laws were no more restrictive than federal law.
5) Colorado still has a lot of very pro-gun people, in a state that is rich with a pro-gun culture. We lost our footing in one election cycle, and we're currently being attacked at the statehouse. But, if the debate over the pending laws have shown us anything, it is that there are still loads of 2nd Amendment supporters here in Colorado.
Here's some information on what is required to make this happen:
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Laws_governing_the_initiative_process_in_Colorado
So, how do we make this all happen for us? Honestly, I'm not entirely sure, but the idea seems viable.
Here's what I'm thinking:
1) Clearly we'd need the support of some gun owner groups (ex: NRA, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, etc) to make this happen, but I don't see why they'd be opposed to it. Seriously, if a bunch of pot-heads could make it happen this year, why can't we?
2) If groups like the NRA are willing to put some money into this issue, paid petitioners are also allowed to help collect signatures. Additionally, we can each get the word out at our local gun stores, ranges, gun shows and other shooting-related venues. For example, I bet I could get hundreds of signatures per day at the local Sportsman's Warehouse, and the range I belong to already has 1,000 member families. Plus, with the buying frenzy at the moment, it won't be hard to find concerned gun owners at each and every one of these venues.
3) We could encourage involvement by pro-gun legislators in this state. For example, though he doesn't represent my district, Senator Brophy has sent me quite a few very pro-gun e-mails in response to my many letters to our legislators. If someone like him was willing to join this fight, he could get word out to a LOT of gun owners who have already contacted him in recent months.
4) As a cautionary note, we would also want to be careful in our language in such a bill. We want to preserve our rights, but we want to be sure we are seen as the reasonable folks we are by the many fence-sitters we have in this state. As such, that's why I recommend that we appeal to their reasonableness by drafting an amendment that explains that we'll simply ensure that our laws are no more restrictive than federal laws (which is the way things should be on 2nd Amendment issues anyway).
