Son of Gunmageddon: Dudley Brown's Last Stand

19 Comments

by: Colorado Pols

Today’s main event at the Colorado Capitol kicks off at 1:30PM in the freshly-renovated Room 271, where the House State, Veterans, and Military Affairs “kill committee” will debate a total of six Republican bills pertaining to guns:

Guns.

AP via 9NEWS reports:

Republicans get their last chance of the year Monday to change Colorado’s firearm laws. Lawmakers will consider several proposals, including two bills to eliminate gun-control measures passed by Democrats in 2013…

The Democrat-led House committee hearing the bills Monday is expected to reject them. Other proposals expected to go down include bills to allow concealed handguns at public schools, and to let people to carry concealed firearms without a permit.

Today’s hearing is expected to drag on for many hours. Senate Bill 15-175, the bill that would repeal the 2013 law limiting gun magazines to 15 rounds, is expected to draw the most testimony, and being up first should be a good indicator of how long a night is really in store. We’ve been consistently surprised by the small turnout from the gun lobby and their supporters for hearings to repeal the 2013 gun safety laws–in marked contrast to the huge crowds of gun rights supporters who flooded the Capitol during the original debate. Supporters of the 2013 laws, on the other hand, have consistently mounted a strong defense, even outnumbering witnesses testifying against, and plan to do so again today. From Everytown for Gun Safety’s release:

Jane Dougherty, a Coloradan whose sister Mary Sherlach was the Sandy Hook Elementary school psychologist killed in December 2012, plans to speak out on a number of the bills, including HB1168, legislation to force concealed carry guns in public schools.

“The last thing we need is to force guns into our elementary schools, middle schools and high schools,” said Dougherty. “This misguided idea of arming teachers is the gun lobby’s answer to what happened at Sandy Hook and Columbine High School right here in Colorado. Do we, as parents, believe that putting guns into our teachers’ hands in our children’s classrooms is the best answer to gun violence in our schools? Our teachers and administrators went into education to teach and nurture our children, not to become sharp shooters.”

Alcorn and Dougherty will be joined by other advocates for gun violence prevention, including Jennifer Hope, a volunteer leader with the Colorado chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Dave Hoover, a police officer and the uncle of AJ Boik who was killed in the Aurora Theater mass shooting, and Tom Sullivan, father of Alex Sullivan who was killed in the Aurora Theater mass shooting.

One other item to watch today is a red-on-red spat developing between Jon Caldara of the Independence Institute and Dudley Brown of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners. The dispute centers on “tracker” video from some weeks ago of Democratic Rep. Joe Salazar, who says again that he will vote against the magazine limit repeal, but also says he might be willing to compromise for an amendment increasing the limit to 30 rounds. RMGO has declared this theoretical compromise a no-go, hilariously labeling it the “Caldara-Salazar Permanent Magazine Ban.” Lynn Bartels of the Denver Post reported on this sideshow to the main event Friday, but we don’t expect it to amount to more than another chance for Brown and RMGO to bedevil fellow Republicans. Even if this is an idea you think has merit, at least two RMGO-owned Republicans on the committee would be even less likely to vote for it than Democrats–making the path to success perilous at best.

The upshot to another late night of sound and fury on guns? It’s the last one of 2015, folks. We’ll update as events warrant.

19 thoughts on “Son of Gunmageddon: Dudley Brown’s Last Stand”

Big Time says:

April 13, 2015 at 11:12 am

The GOP is shamelessly the party of Big Business – profits over people, on every single issue.

Like Big Tobacco before it, Big Firearms lies about its products and pours millions into misinformation campaigns designed to make it appear that their products are not only safe – but good for you.

Remember when smoking a cigarette made you better looking and more attractive?

When Big Tobacco got called on all its lies, their spinmeisters and ad agencies lost out on a lot of cancer revenue – and it sure seems like a lot of them simply opened new accounts with the NRA and the rest of Big Firearms and now earn their keep as gun violence promoters.

One day, we will all look back on the horror that is the Gun Lobby with the same appreciate we do now for Big Tobacco and its shameless drive for profit at the expense of people.

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rathmone says:

April 13, 2015 at 11:33 am

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JeffcoBlue says:

April 13, 2015 at 11:37 am

Dudley Brown is truly a bipartisan boil on the ass of humanity.

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FrankUnderwood says:

April 13, 2015 at 11:39 am

I’m guessing Humphrey and Mini Timmy are the two State Affairs members who would rather kill their own bills than allow the compromise that Salazar referred to.

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1. Diogenesdemar says:
  
  April 13, 2015 at 11:56 am
  
  True that! Timmime hasn’t demonstated any capacity to form a single thought that Daddy-Dudley didn’t shove through his ear canal first.
  
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Diogenesdemar says:

April 13, 2015 at 11:47 am

Caldara is correct (damn, life I sure wierd sometimes) . . . Dudley’s no-compromise intransigence is his side’s worst enemy in getting the 30-round magazine ban overturned. (Proves the point that he’d rather have an inflammatory issue to fundraise, than make “progress” for his supporters.)

Keep up the good work, Dudnutz (damn, life is sure wierd sometimes)!

I wonder what the odds are of two blind pigs finding the same acorn at the same time?

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1. FrankUnderwood says:
  
  April 13, 2015 at 1:18 pm
  
  I love his reference to a “permanent magazine ban.” It will only be permanent until repealed or amended at a later date.
  
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doremi says:

April 13, 2015 at 12:41 pm

Despite all the discussion here about the infighting in the pro-gun rights crowd. Let us be clear. A 30-round limit is virtually no limit at all.

The magazines (Magpul) which were used in the Newtown massacre were 30 rounds.

Let’s give the people being shot at a chance to escape, call authorities, or disable the shooter (as was done in Tucson and Seattle Pacific) when the shooter goes to reload.

High capacity magazines are illegal for hunting. The need for them in self-defense is incredibly rare. On the other hand, they are what makes for the “mass” in mass-shootings.

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1. bullshit! says:
  
  April 13, 2015 at 1:15 pm
  
  Absolutely right. There’s no need to do this, just another excuse for Dudley to raise money.
  
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davebarnes says:

April 13, 2015 at 3:21 pm

Why not lower the magazine limit to the equivalent of “8-round en-bloc clip, internal magazine” which is what the M1 Garand had? Good enough to defeat Hitler and Tojo so good enough for us.

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Not Dame Edna2 says:

April 13, 2015 at 9:09 pm

Rep. Thurlow just voted against HB15-1168 casting a no vote with the Democratic members of State Affairs.

I like this guy!

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1. JeffcoBlue says:
  
  April 13, 2015 at 9:42 pm
  
  Voted against repealing background checks too. I like him but he’s going to need some help to survive Dudley Brown’s wrath.
  
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  1. Gilpin Guy says:
    
    April 13, 2015 at 10:56 pm
    
    It could be that he isn’t cowered by anyone. Who knew the Western Slope had such independent cusses.
    
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    1. Duke Cox says:
      
      April 14, 2015 at 7:21 am
      
      I met him once. He seemed lucid and articulate, however woefully misguided and misinformed he is when it comes to oil and gas issues. I am rather impressed with his willingness to tell the caucus to shove it, though…even more so it seems, than his two immediate predecessors.
      
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      1. Gilpin Guy says:
        
        April 14, 2015 at 10:23 am
        
        Ralphie was a worthy Western Sloper. Good writing and a great wit.
        
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        Duke Cox says:
        
        April 14, 2015 at 10:33 am
        
        Ralphie was a gem…a great guy…miss him.
        
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        BlueCat says:
        
        April 14, 2015 at 11:00 am
        
        Amen.
        
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        mamajama55 says:
        
        April 14, 2015 at 11:52 am
        
        I never met Ralphie in person, but enjoyed corresponding with him about various political matters and mysteries. I miss him, too.
        
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Gilpin Guy says:

April 13, 2015 at 10:59 pm

It’s kind of fun to have adult discussions in this forum right now. I thought the Hillary thread was very entertaining. Enjoy it while lasts.

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