Gun Rights Victory Against Colorado Senators Wounds Restriction Efforts

Awww. Too bad.

This time was supposed to be different.

After Newtown, Aurora and Tucson, gun-control advocates saw their best chance in a generation to tighten the nation's gun laws. That's how the argument went, at least.

But election results Tuesday in Colorado may serve as stark reminders of the continued power of the gun lobby. Two Democratic state senators lost their jobs because of new gun laws they helped pass, in races that played out as testing grounds for national messaging on both sides of the debate.

In a state that's trending Democratic and has seen terrible gun violence firsthand, money flowed in on both sides over the seats of two obscure state lawmakers. The results directly undermine hopes that new gun restrictions can be political winners, and are likely to further sap what momentum was left for tighter federal gun laws at the congressional level.

Comments

[BardMetal]

I'm tired of constantly having to fight, in order to simply get to government not to violate the few 2nd amendment rights that it still recognizes. When will people start demanding the government to restore those rights rather then just drawing this line in the sand?

Until I'm able to purchase any firearm that I damn well please without the government interfering, then my rights are still be violated.

[BardMetal]

We really need a way to edit our posts so I can fix typos.

[Shmurphy]

"If you are for gun control, then you are not against guns, because the guns will be needed to disarm people. So it's not that you are anti-gun. You'll need the police's guns to take away other people's guns. So you're very Pro-Gun, you just believe that only the Government (which is, of course, so reliable, honest, moral and virtuous?) should be allowed to have guns. There isw no such thing as gun control. There is only centralizing gun ownership in the hands of a small, political elite and their minions." - Stefan Molyneux

[SweatingGin]

It still makes me happy every time I read anything on this story.

[XM]

The "gun lobby" was soundly outspent and turnout in the district of one the recalled senators was democratic.

So of course, this is all about the gun lobby, and not the fact that citizens were upset over infringement upon the second amendment.

Did you also know voter suppression happened? I tell ya, the NRA is one scary organization. They must be the one arming rebels in the middle east.

[Tejicano]

The NRA is one of the largest truly grass roots organizations in existence but the media tries to pretend they are representatives for the gun manufacturing industry. This recall is just a clear reflection of that fact - that opposition to gun control is mostly on the individual level. In the past gun makers were much more ready to compromise on this issue (S&W and Ruger come to mind) than the average NRA member would have been.

Any media outlet - like ABC here - strikes their colors on this debate when they continue to ignore the facts. Even if the media won't "get it" on what happened here I hope the DNC has seen the light.