2002 Colorado Candidate Survey
Rocky Mountain Gun Owners
P.O. Box 3114
Denver, Colorado 80201
Phone & Fax (303) 432-3006
www.RMGO.org
Candidate name: __________________________ (please print)
1. Most Americans understand that criminals will always find ways of obtaining weapons whether legally or illegally. Yet gun control forces are calling for limits on the number of firearms that a law-abiding citizen may purchase in a specified time period, usually only one per month. One-gun-a-month laws do not limit guns available to criminals, but they do require a complicated and expensive registration system to enforce.
Do you oppose "one-gun-a-month" laws that limit purchases of firearms by law-abiding citizens?
Yes _____ No _____
2. Gun banners have attempted to discourage gun ownership by creating a patchwork of differing municipal ordinances. These rules often snare innocent sportsmen merely passing through a neighboring city.
Should state law prohibit Colorado localities from placing limitations on the rights of citizens to purchase, possess, or carry firearms (called preemption)?
Yes _____ No _____
3. In 2000, Tom Mauser and SAFE Colorado launched a ballot initiative to close the so-called "gun show loophole." In essence, this expanded the Colorado Brady Registration checks to private purchases at gun shows.
Do you oppose closing the "gun show loophole"?
Yes _____ No _____
4. Gun control advocates hype the false idea that certain cosmetic features make some semi-automatic firearms or high capacity magazines "different" than others. Media hysteria has led to the misperception that semi-automatic firearms are so-called "assault
weapons." All semi-automatic firearms function essentially the same, as do all magazines.
Do you oppose legislation banning the manufacture, sale or possession of semi-automatic firearms and/or large-capacity magazines?
Yes _____ No _____
5. The power to tax is the power to destroy. When anti-gun politicians are unable to achieve their aims directly, they frequently resort to taxes to deviously achieve the same result.
Do you oppose laws which would impose any punitive taxes on the ownership, purchase or use of firearms or ammunition currently available to honest citizens?
Yes ______ No _____
6. Gun control advocates push licensing systems with background checks, fingerprinting, high fees and "training" requirements as a "reasonable" measure. Once enacted, however, bureaucratic rulings, higher and higher fees, and arbitrary training requirements make it prohibitive for most law-abiding citizens to obtain a firearm.
Do you oppose government licensing to buy a gun?
Yes ______ No _____
7. So-called "instant" background checks are in fact computerized central gun registration systems. Only a single computer keystroke is necessary to permanently register every gun sale and gun buyer. Furthermore, anti-gunners know an "instant"
check system is the foundation for so-called "one-gun-a-month" laws (as in Virginia) and other gun control schemes.
Will you support the repeal of computerized "instant" Brady background check legislation since it centrally registers gun sales and gun owners?
Yes _____ No _____
8. Most firearms experts recognize that mechanical devices, such as trigger locks, create an extremely dangerous condition, whereby a gun can be fired accidentally. Laws that mandate the use of trigger locks or create new crimes called "negligent storage of a firearm" coerce citizens to "safely store" their firearms, which may render a firearm unavailable and/or ineffective when most needed. This often leaves an individual or family defenseless.
Do you oppose government mandated use of trigger locks or other so-called "safe" or "negligent storage" laws which have the effect of making it difficult, if not impossible, to have a gun available to defend your home and family?
Yes ______ No _____
9. Vermont has one of the lowest violent crime rates in the nation. The Vermont carry law recognizes that every citizen has the right to carry a gun, openly or concealed, except to commit a crime. Thus, with no government bureaucracy or license, Vermont citizens can defend themselves. Criminals who use arms are severely punished.
Would you support Vermont-style legislation which would eliminate all requirements to pay fees and register gun owners and simply allow law-abiding citizens to carry firearms openly or concealed (at the individual's discretion) for any reason except for the commission of a crime?
Yes _____ No _____
10. For 30 years gun owners have let the institutional gun lobby lead them down a path of compromise, and our gun rights have suffered for it. RMGO and GOA actively work to force recorded votes on gun issues, putting anti-gun lawmakers of both parties on record and letting citizens see a politician's true intentions toward gun rights.
Will you actively work to force tough recorded votes on gun issues, despite the protests of leadership and colleagues within your own party?
Yes _____ No _____
11. Almost every legislative candidate will say "I support the Second Amendment" but not all will stand firmly against new and invasive forms of gun control, especially when "compromises" are offered.
Will you oppose all methods of gun control, including those the media calls "reasonable", such as laws like straw purchase, increasing the minimum age of firearms ownership, and new ways to track guns and gun owners?
Yes _____ No _____
12. Some gun rights groups have touted Project Exile as a way to enforce existing gun laws. This has spawned TV commercials urging citizens to turn in their neighbors for "illegal guns" and other Gestapo-like tactics. This project, which is really a collaboration between state and federal authorities, plays into the hands of gun-banners, using gun rights groups as a pawn to enforce domestic abuse gun bans and other bad gun laws.
Will you oppose Project
Exile, which attempts to enforce unconstitutional and unwarranted attacks on citizens' rights to keep and bear arms?
Yes _____ No _____
I hereby submit the answers to this survey as my solemn word that, if elected, I will vote on these issues as I've indicated in this survey.
Signed ___________________________________________________ Date________
(Candidate signature)
Print Name __________________________ Office Sought _____________ Party ____
Feel free to attach additional comments to this survey. Unanswered questions will be considered as opposition to the rights of gun owners.
