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Gun Control in Colorado


Due to the prevalence of mass shootings in the United States, many states have adapted gun legislation to target the issue. Colorado is no exception. The House Bill 1177 or more commonly known as “the red flag bill” was passed this previous legislative session (Aguilar). The bill allows the court to seize firearms from individuals who are deemed a threat to themselves or to others (Aguilar). This considerable gun legislation is significant for Democrats who have advocated for gun control for years. More importantly, the passing of this bill may once again demonstrate which party has been gaining momentum in Colorado these past few years. Colorado’s legislature has generally sided to the left in recent times (Strayer 141). This is a significant shift from the more Republican leaning legislature that Colorado was previously used to (Strayer 141). Furthermore, Colorado’s House Bill 1177 is in no way addressing the issue in a very unique way. Figure 1 below demonstrates nationwide attitudes on temporarily seizing firearms from particular individuals.
Figure 1.
With the next legislative session quickly approaching, the future of gun legislation remains a controversial topic. Representative Tom Sullivan, a Democrat from Aurora, has recently voiced his desire to push for more gun legislation (Burness). As a father who lost his son in the Aurora movie theatre shooting, Sullivan feels compelled to use his role to establish more gun control in Colorado (Burness).
While such objectives are understandable, it is still important to consider the state’s overall ideology and how drastic measures could worsen polarization. Though the Colorado legislature has revolved around more Democratic power in recent decades, the ideological makeup of the state is not entirely Democratic. Figure 2 below demonstrates how Colorado voted in the 2018 governor’s race.
Figure 2
It is clear that political ideology in Colorado is complex and can not be simply defined as “ a blue state” or “a red state”.  In terms of polarization, Colorado appears to follow the national pattern. Current U.S political polarization is perhaps the worst it has ever been, with absolutely no ideological overlap between members of both parties (Adler, Jenkins, Shipan). As was discussed in class, the Colorado State Legislature is the second most polarized in the country. 
This current makeup of politics in Colorado matters when discussing current and future gun legislation. The aftermath of House Bill 1177 has led to more controversy and frustration from opposing groups. Almost half of all Colorado counties have passed resolutions that aim to discourage judges and law enforcement from engaging in an order to seize firearms (Aguilar).  As Democratic legislators get ready to start the new session, I would urge them to place focus on gun legislation that can gain bipartisan support. As difficult as it may be for our elected leaders to come together on the issue, doing so would be the only way to avoid worsening political polarization. As a state with already very high polarization present, increasing this polarization by passing partisan and drastic gun control legislation could only create more problems. The two parties will be even more unwilling to work with one another and public perception will worsen, leading to a decrease in legitimacy. For the sake of improving governmental capacity, I advise Colorado’s Democratic legislators to be cautious of how they approach gun legislation in 2020. 










Works Cited 
Adler, E. Scott, et al. The United States Congress. W.W. Norton & Company, 2019.
Aguilar, John, and Anna Staver. “Gov. Polis Signs Hard-Fought Colorado Red-Flag Gun 
Measure into Law.” The Denver Post, The Denver Post, 13 Apr. 2019, 
 Burness, Alex. “‘It's Coming. It Is.": Colorado Democrats Explore Gun Legislation for 2020.” 
The Denver Post, The Denver Post, 23 Nov. 2019, 
Straayer, John A. The Colorado General Assembly. University Press of Colorado, 2000.

Comments

  1. Laura,
    I think you did a really nice job summarizing the partisanship behind this topic. I wasn’t aware that so many counties in Colorado have passed resolutions to discourage police and judges from engaging with orders to seize firearms, but it makes sense after looking at your second figure. It’s pretty sad to me that there is almost no ideological overlap between the congressional members of both parties anymore. I would therefore agree that seeking and encouraging more bipartisan legislation is beneficial, as well as is often more effective and perceived as legitimate. Concerning your Figure 1, it’s very peculiar to me that there are such high statistics in support of protection orders, as well as such high figures of citizen’s bipartisan support for universal background checks, and yet there is huge opposition to such gun policy legislation by leaders in Congress and in state governments.

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  2. I really liked this article because I have not done a lot of research into this topic and it was great to get some background into the "red flag bill". I think looking to Colorado politics on this is important because Colorado is a very bipartisan and polarized state, which means even if gun control was put to a vote, there could only be a prediction of how it would turn out. Having politicians that have personal ties to certain topics of bills like gun control, it is hard to define a solution when something is very controversial and no one knows if stricter gun laws are the answer. In terms of representation, having a legislator being able to relate to a topic like gun control will have a greater influence for them to listen to their constituents and gain more public support. It is a controversial topic throughout the U.S., and it will be very interesting to see how Colorado votes as a whole on stricter gun control laws.

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  3. Good job! It seems like from the graphs in your piece that most Americans, whether the be Republican or Democratic, are in support of temporary gun seizure in certain cases. I agree that in drastic change in gun control laws would definitely lead to a lot of backlash in the state. It will be interesting to see how the legislator approaches gun laws in Colorado, and if they do decide to due any major to change them.

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  4. I really like that you wrote this. This is one of the biggest impacts on the US and I'm glad Colorado is continuing to pass legislation despite the backlash. Good job!

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  5. I found it surprising that there was a lot of support for protection orders and bipartisan support for background checks, but there is still an extreme opposition towards stricter gun control laws. You mentioned that Colorado follows similar patterns of polarization to that of the U.S. which will be interesting to see in the 2020 election if constituents will hold their Congressmen and women accountable for changing gun laws.

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  6. Laura, Thank you for your post about the issue of gun control in Colorado. I think you do a wonderful job in providing context to the situation and liked how you mentioned representative Tom Sullivan and his personal stake in the matter. I appreciated that because it is easy to get mad a politicians for taking certain stances on certain issues but when you dig deeper into why they hold those opinions it becomes more understandable as to why they are the way they are. and in Rep. Sullivan's case, we can see why he such a strong advocate for gun control since he lost his son in theater shooting. Furthermore, your take on how gun legislation has contributed to the political polarization within the Colorado Legislature was an excellent point. I believe that our legislators need to more understanding of one another's differences. I'm not saying they should become more "moderate" but they should at least be able to hear what the other side has to say and work on how to compromise with one another on hot button issues such as gun control

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