March 31, 2019 10:33 AM UTC

#NotAllRepublicans, Red Flag Edition

• 2 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Amid all the acrimony directed at majority Democrats in the Colorado General Assembly over the passage of House Bill 19-1177, the bill to create Extreme Risk Protection Orders to temporarily remove firearms from people judged in court to be a threat to themselves or the public, it bears repeating that the legislation enjoys overwhelming public support in every poll that’s been conducted on the issue–including a 2018 poll in Colorado that found support for a “red flag” law north of 80%.

That includes a large segment of Republican voters, though they may be reticent to speak up at this particular moment–and one such Republican sent flowers this weekend to the prime Senate sponsor of House Bill 19-1177, Sen. Brittany Pettersen of Lakewood:

It’s an anecdotal example of how this issue has evolved since the last round of legislative action on guns six years ago, but also how the issue has never cut cleanly along partisan lines–despite the insistence by the NRA and the “no compromise” gun lobby that unfettered gun rights are a Republican litmus test. Just like the old saying that “a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged,” today a supporter of gun control can be a conservative who has either woke to–or been personally affected by–gun violence.

In the next few months, sensible conservatives like this one may get to do more than send flowers.