by Rocky Mountain Gun Owners

January 22, 2002

RMGO.org -- Last week the Colorado legislature again convened, and already signals of a surrender on the concealed carry issue have been raised.

Gov. Owens, the NRA, Sen. Ken Chlouber and a number of local compromising "gun activists" (a few of them being retired federal law enforcement) are teaming up to pass a concealed carry bill that is long on restrictions and short on freedom.

Governor Owens alluded to it in his State of the State speech. You'll note that Owens didn't get specific, and as the saying goes, the devil is in the details: Owens supports a concealed carry bill with many restrictions. If Owens supports it, gun owners should be skeptical.

Like in previous years, this crowd will croon "but we can't pass a bill that is good" which assumes they would even offer a bill that is a step forward from current law. It assumes that any bill can pass a Democrat-controlled committee system in the Senate. It is also a self-fulfilling prophecy: when a good bill is offered, they don't support it (in 1999, the NRA, CSSA and Owens opposed SB156, which was the best concealed carry bill ever offered in Colorado).

Chlouber's bill - legislation designed to re-ingratiate Governor Owens with the gun rights community and allow the NRA to again endorse Owens in the next election - has a number of flaws as written now, and is certain to gather even worse amendments as it travels through the legislative process. Chlouber's willingness to accept these bad amendments - having a sponsor who is willing to compromise before the game even begins means gun owners are certain to be the losers.

Even more disconcerting are Sen. Chlouber's attempts to sell his concealed carry bills as "the only method to limit a renegade Sheriff" who issues outside of his jurisdiction. This attempt is a transparent attempt to garner support from the leftist Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, and should anger gun owners greatly.

Points of contention in every concealed carry bill have revolved around the following issues:

• New criminal safe zones, where criminals know they are the only people armed and can operate without fear of armed citizens.
  The current state law is relatively clear (federal law adds courthouses, airports and post offices), but Chlouber's bill creates a new "do not carry" zone: schools. In fact, the former President of CSSA has said "I also would not sign on to a bill which allowed every Tom, Dick and Harry (who has a concealed carry permit) to bring a weapon onto school grounds…" though permit holders have that right now. How, then, are citizens expected to stop another Columbine incident? Don't tell us we have to wait for Sheriff John Stone's keystone- cop antics: Colorado should continue to allow citizens the right to self-defense when picking up their children from school.
   
• Government-mandated training.
  We don't require a "political test" before citizens are allowed to practice their First Amendment rights, so why should we accept it for our Second Amendment rights? Citizens can already purchase firearms without training, which is as it should be. RMGO urges anyone who thinks they will ever have contact with a firearm to obtain adequate, privately offered safety training, but government mandating that training will turn it into a bureaucratic rubber stamp process.
   
• Firearms logging.
  Some sheriffs - such as Arapahoe County leftist Republican Sheriff Pat Sullivan, who makes Rosie O'Donnell look pro-gun -- require a list of the firearms you own, along with serial numbers.
   
• An early expiration of the permits already issued.
  A great number of citizens already have permits, and those permits shouldn't be tossed aside to satisfy the ambition of politicians.
   
• Jurisdiction only.
  Since Stratton has started issuing to residents outside of their small town, the Sheriffs and Chiefs mafia are sure to ask for a provision stopping these renegades. If they were doing their job, law enforcement in Stratton - which we understand to have a 2 year backlog for applicants - wouldn't need to issue permits to other Colorado residents.
   
• A statewide database of gun owners.
  Decentralizing the list by letting Sheriffs maintain their own system would deny government yet another list of gun owners, but state capitol politicians have always tried to use concealed carry permits as a backdoor method to log and track those who carry, including requiring fingerprints.
   
• High fees.
  Law enforcement always decry the cost of these background checks and demand that any new permit system have exorbitant fees, but the actual cost of determining if an applicant is a felon is less than $10. Any permit system shouldn't turn into a money making scheme for your local sheriff. Though SB60 isn't expensive right now, it will be unless the sponsor resists the amendments that are sure to come.

These are just a few of the problems we face in Senate Bill 60. Expect a more exhaustive analysis in the days ahead.

RMGO refuses to take a step backward.

September 11th should be a sufficient wakeup call to push our agenda without apologies, but instead the institutional gun lobby and their toadies have already signed our documents of surrender on the issue, content to beg for scraps from their master's table. To that, we say "No thanks."

In the next few weeks, State Rep. Dave Schultheis (pronounced Shult-ice) will offer a concealed carry bill much like the bill that passed the State Senate in 1999, shortly before Columbine. It would force sheriffs to issue a permit to any applicant who is legally eligible to purchase a firearm - with no more hoops-and-hurdles, and a process which is fair to citizens. No statewide databases, no criminal safe zones, no high fees (sheriffs could only charge actual costs), and no government-mandated training. In effect, it would be a Vermont-style permit, where government has the burden of proving why a citizen shouldn't be allowed to carry, instead of the other way around.

Critics - both the Sarah Brady crowd, and the compromisers who want any bill at any cost so that Bill Owens can pretend he is pro-gun - will say it has no chance of passing. This is exactly what they said in 1999 - shortly before we passed a Vermont-style permit bill out of the State Senate, then considered much more liberal-leaning than the House. It was only by the scheming of these compromisers that this bill, the best ever offered in Colorado, was defeated. 

What can you do?

Call your State Representative today (toll free 1-800-811-7647 or 303-866-2904 in the Metro area) and urge him/her to support only Rep. Dave Schultheis' concealed carry bill (we will not have a bill number until it has been filed). Tell your State Representative to become a co-sponsor immediately (the only way for a politician to prove he/she supports this bill before the actual vote).