Polis Offers Troubling Response to Gun Bill Veto Request

Colorado isn’t pro-gun anymore, which is a shame. 

However, the only reason they aren’t more anti-gun with regard to laws on the books is that Gov. Jared Polis tries to appear to be a libertarian-leaning Democrat rather than what you normally see elected in most states. He’s not a fan of gun bans, even if it’s only one type of gun.

But the state’s latest measure stepped away from the ban and into tougher regulations on so-called assault weapons, figuring that since it’s not really a ban, Polis will be more likely to sign it.

That said, Republicans from the state’s Congressional delegation are urging him to do the opposite.

Colorado’s Republican congressional delegation is urging Governor Jared Polis to veto recent legislation that forces residents who wish to exercise their Second Amendment rights to submit to a training program and an illegal gun owner registry. Senate Bill 003 was introduced to ban the sale of all semi-automatic magazine-fed firearms. Those plans changed quickly when it became apparent that Polis was uncomfortable with such a sweeping ban. More accurately, the governor was worried about recall petitions and voter backlash as experienced during the state’s 2013 gun control debacle. 

A spokeswoman for the governor tried to absolve him of responsibility and appeal to Constitutionally-minded Americans by pointing out that the bill’s revision wouldn’t include any bans on firearms, carving a path by which residents may continue to exercise their rights so long as they participate in the licensing and registry scam. Polis’ office also put Republicans on notice, presenting SB 003 as veiled negotiation leverage to prevent Medicaid cuts and provide support for his opposition to President Trump’s sweeping tariffs. 

“We appreciate hearing from members of Congress, and this goes both ways… For example, the governor strongly requests that they don’t make devastating cuts to Medicaid that will throw Coloradans off of health care and raise costs for everyone, and that they stop the president’s tariff tax hike – one of the largest in history — which is raising costs on Coloradans and businesses across the state,” said the governor’s press secretary, Shelby Wieman.

That sounds…ominous to me.

As The Truth About Guns’ Darwin Nercesian noted in his very next paragraph:

I hope people can see the forest through the bureaucratic trees here. Governor Polis’ office ultimately telling Americans that he is willing to spend their tax dollars to compromise their civil rights so that he can then use the suppression of those rights as a bargaining chip to get something else he wants, which will, of course, also come at an expense to the taxpayer. Furthermore, offering consolation prizes like unlawful licensing and registry scams in the place of an illegal ban is about as smarmy and villainous as it gets. Tell me you’re a criminal scumbag without telling me you’re a criminal scumbag.  

Yeah, that’s my take, too.

There’s a very “this is a nice place you have here. It would be a shame if something happened to it,” vibe at work in this statement. Colorado’s Republican members of Congress are being extorted for a vote on Medicaid.

When one considers the razor-thin margins in both chambers of Congress, Polis knows that if his state’s GOP delegation opposes cuts, then they’re not going to happen.

I get that wheeling and dealing is a part of politics, but this is more than just “support this and I’ll support that.” This is literally holding people’s constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms hostage in order to continue part of the Democratic Party’s vote-buying efforts using your tax dollars.

I don’t get partisan here most of the time, or at least try not to, but I can’t really see it as anything other than what I just laid out in that paragraph.

Sure, other people might see it differently, and they have a right to do so. I don’t think the world revolves around me, so I can handle disagreement, but I also can’t see how one might see it as anything else.

That said, I do hope that Polis does the right thing here.

This measure won’t make anyone safer. It’s nothing but an infringement on the right to keep and bear arms, a way to make it more costly and difficult to buy a certain kind of firearm for lawful use, but doing nothing about criminals or even people with no criminal history but with nefarious intent.

It shouldn’t be law.

Polis needs to step up and do the right thing, especially if he wants us to buy that he’s any kind of libertarian.