Recalls were not just about gun control

Were the recalls in Colorado of two state senators just about gun control? No, writes Ari Armstrong. Both senators

showed contempt for their lawful gun-owning constituents, which motivated people to work to recall them. Secondly, the gun bills were badly drafted, putting peaceable gun owners in legal jeopardy. However, if Democrats had taken the time to draft carefully worded bills, the opposition to those bills would have had more time to organize, putting the bills’ passage at risk. Democrats chose speed over legal soundness.

Colorado’s gun owners rightly saw the Democrats as playing political games with their rights and liberties, something that again motivated those working for the recall.

Thirdly, outside influence irritated Colorado voters. In a move that is to my knowledge unprecedented, Joe Biden, the vice president of the United States, personally called Colorado legislators to cajole them into supporting the bills restricting gun ownership. And New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg personally called Colorado’s governor, John Hickenlooper, during the debates over the legislation.

Why? The Obama administration, along with Bloomberg’s anti-gun coalition, hoped to use Colorado’s passage of the laws to spearhead a national campaign to pass even more severe gun legislation at the national level.

Then Bloomberg poured $350,000 into Colorado to support Morse and Giron. True, the National Rifle Association helped to finance those working for the recall—but the NRA is in turn financed by a multitude of gun owners in Colorado. (Anyway, as Kopel notes, supporters of Morse and Giron outspent the recallers by a margin of eight to one.)