April 09, 2026 11:16 AM UTC

Rep. Ava Flanell's Budget Bluster Blows Back Bigly

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• by: Colorado Pols

We haven’t had much occasion yet this legislative session to talk about freshman Rep. Ava Flanell of Colorado Springs, appointed last fall to replace resigning Rep. Rose Pugliese in House District 14, and promising a fresh-faced approach to the perennial single issue of resisting tyrannical Democratic attempts to #takeyerguns. But in yesterday’s marathon debate over mostly-DOA proposed amendments to this year’s budget “Long Bill,” in which as readers know lawmakers are being forced to make unwanted and painful cuts to all manner of vital public programs and services, Rep. Flanell managed to get herself on the political radar.

Unfortunately, not in a good way. Here’s Rep. Flanell proposing her amendment to the budget that would slash funding for the state’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention, and direct the money to reduce the waitlist for patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities–a waitlist set to double in time under the proposed budget:

FLANELL: This amendment does two things. While it benefits the IDD waitlist, it makes extreme cuts to the Office of Gun Violence Prevention. An NPR story detailed frustration with the office’s lack of efficacy, stating that in year one, lawmakers expected the Office of Gun Violence Prevention to distribute at least $50,000 in grants to help communities curb gun deaths. According to budget reports. At the state Capitol. But 18 months after the office was created and given a $3 million annual budget, records show it hasn’t distributed a single 1 grant dollar yet. This office hasn’t saved lives or reduced violent crime. In fact, crime is at an all-time high. Especially if you want to consider quote unquote, gun violence.

First of all, there is no one in the building, especially on the Democratic side of the aisle, who supports reducing funds for medical care. But the first problem is that Rep. Flanell appears to be citing a story from 2023, three years ago, and while the Office of Gun Violence Prevention was reportedly a bit slow to launch its grant program, even that story reported that hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant funds had been distributed by the office. In 2023. Flanell’s claim is therefore not only temporally dishonest, but a massive waste of the legislature’s time–since everyone with a brain in the chamber knows what she said hasn’t been true in over three years.

Then Rep. Flanell absurdly claimed that crime is “at an all-time high,” which it is not. Not even close. In fact, crime in Colorado been declining for even longer than the three-year-old story Flanell cited.

And then came the only thing that anyone is going to remember from Rep. Flanell’s contribution to the debate over this year’s budget: air quotes around the words “gun violence” (top right) In 2021, gun violence in Colorado hit a 40-year high before commencing the decline that has continued to the present day. Between 2020 and 2024, Colorado had a higher rate of gun violence deaths than the national average, driven by our state’s persistently high suicide rate. Rep. Flanell seems to want it both ways, falsely claiming that crime is “at an all-time high” and then in the very next breath suggesting that gun violence isn’t a thing.

We don’t know who this nonchalant disregard for thousands of dead Coloradans is meant to persuade. But it didn’t work on Flanell’s colleagues, and we’re pretty sure it will offend more Colorado voters who see it than it will impress. In the annals of offensive gun nut tropes, this ranks up there with Rocky Mountain Gun Owners’ suggestion in testimony to leave Black kids out of gun violence statistics or former Sen. Bernie Herpin’s remarks about how great it was that the Aurora theater shooter had a 100-round magazine because they tend to jam.

Lawmakers need to think about how these things look outside their tiny like-minded bubble.

The ones who want to stay in office, anyway.