AURORA | Democratic candidates up and down the ballot told supporters in Aurora this weekend that gun control, and preserving changes they’ve already made, is at stake this midterm election cycle.
Shannon Watts, the founder of national activist group Moms Demand Action, attended the gathering at the Aurora Municipal Center to urge support for Democrats, who she said are “moving the needle.”
“I started Moms a decade ago. And a decade ago in Congress, a quarter of all Democrats had an A rating from the NRA. A quarter. Today, not one does,” she said. “Legislation that Senator Bennett helped pass — the bipartisan Safer Communities Act — had 15 Republicans sign on…We need every lawmaker on the right side of this issue.”
Those lawmakers at the event on Saturday included Sen. Michael Bennet and statewide candidates and incumbents: Jena Griswold for Secretary of State, Dave Young for State Treasurer, Tom Sullivan for Senate District 27, Eliza Hamrick for House District 61 and Kathy Plomer for Colorado State Board of Education.
Hamrick, who worked as a teacher in the Cherry Creek School District, said “each drill, and each (active shooter) event adds trauma upon trauma.”
“You instinctually know as a teacher, that you will throw yourself in front of your students. That’s what you do. That’s who you are. Teaching is a calling. But then you have the cruel calculus of ‘I’m a mother, I’m a grandmother, I’m a wife.’ This is no way to live,” she said. “We must end gun violence in schools, in our community and in our state. That’s why we must elect Democrats up and down the ballot and must pass sensible gun violence prevention legislation.”
The campaign stop in Aurora for Democrats comes a decade after the Aurora theater shooting, which happened just down the street from where the group of candidates spoke.
“I reflect on being here not too long ago, reflecting on a painful anniversary when that movie theater… became a massacre of young people because someone with an assault weapon with 100 rounds was able to kill as many people as possible,” Weiser said. “Colorado, after grieving, got to work. Tom Sullivan, after grieving, got to lobbying and we passed a magazine capacity limit and the background check law. I’ve been defending those laws. I’m running because I believe in those laws.”
Sullivan, who currently represents a House district comprising parts of the southern metroplex, made gun law reform a key component of his platform. His son was one of the 12 people killed during the theater shooting.
In the decade since the shooting, Colorado has passed several gun control measures, but they fear their work could all be undone if Republicans take back control. Sullivan said his race could be a determining factor in the state Senate.
Meanwhile, Griswold emphasized a new law protecting election workers from intimidation following a contentious 2020 election where mis and disinformation about voting and election results led to an insurrection of the US Capitol and threats on local election agencies.
Watts said hyper-local elections are the next frontier of gun reform efforts.
Local school board and Aurora City Council candidates aren’t on the ballot this year, but national advocacy group Giffords previously endorsed in the Aurora mayoral race.
Storage laws and open carry laws are the emphasis of those local efforts, she said.
As for recalls, such as the ones that took place in 2013 after Colorado Democrats introduced gun legislation, Watts said Moms Demand Action and others have learned important lessons since then.
“We were pretty new when that happened. It was 2013, we started in 2012 — but what we learned is it’s not good enough to pass sweeping gun reform legislation, you have to stay there and protect the lawmakers who did the right thing,” Watts told The Sentinel.
While Republicans like Congressperson Lauren Boebert have made clear their unyielding rejection of gun restrictions, others statewide Colorado GOP candidates have been less than clear, according to candidate surveys and queries from journalists.
“Just the next year or two after that. We passed gun safety legislation in Oregon, and the NRA tried to do the same thing,” she said. “They tried to recall lawmakers and we were able to prohibit them even from getting enough signatures on ballots to do that…we stopped them (and) never again has there been recalled lawmakers because we learned the lesson in Colorado.”
Sullivan has an ad that states that since elected his policies has worked at stopping gun violence. But that doesn’t seem to be the truth because they are still happening. I feel that one way to help stopping them is to stop printing their names in the news, you are making them famous and that keeps the cycle going.
And can you tell us how many more would have occurred if it had not been for the few common-sense laws that have been enacted? NO, you cannot. That they continue only tells us we haven’t done enough for Americans.
You don’t understand the concept of the fallacy of proving a negative, do you Joe? Not a surprise a hippie burnout would think like a spoiled five year old.
Have the laws done anything? Maybe it’s time to ramp up the consequences of even possessing a firearm illegally or using one in the commission of a crime.
It’s no secret where the bulk of the non-suicide shootings are happening. Contrary to the liberal narrative, it’s not between white suburban high school kids.
There aren’t that many to reverse. We need to elect people who will enact more. Even republicans know there are too-many guns out there in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. But they press on because for them, it’s an ideological issue rather than a matter of Americans’ lives.
I hope all the gun grabbing Democrats get beat by a large margin. The right side of this issue is to eliminate all infringements on a constitutionaly protected right. SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED.
but more children’s deaths and stupid adult deaths are ok because of your imagined 2nd amendment rights. republicans? really
That’s the cost of living in your deep blue cesspools, Doug.
It is amazing to see so many people zealously defending the status quo of our schools being shooting galleries. I’ll pray for you.
Even more amazing to see so many people zealously defending the status quo of being soft on crime. I’ll pray for you.
people are afraid to say it, but the second amendment needs re clarification and amended to reflect the 21st century and beyond. It ain’t the wild west anymore people.
Haha, good luck getting that passed. You might want to re-check on how an amendment gets changed.