By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Only days after a strict new gun control law took effect in Colorado, an editorial in the Denver Gazette blisters the Democratic majority in the state legislature, claiming their efforts to “get guns off our streets” is playing out “a lot like a compulsive gambler who’s sure he has a winning hand — every time the cards are dealt.”
“One difference, though,” the editorial observes. “The gambler actually has a chance of success.”
It amounts to the popular definition of insanity as doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome.
Headlined “A legislature in denial on gun control,” the 513-word critique chastises lawmakers for having initially sought “to prohibit the sale, manufacture and purchase of semiautomatic weapons with detachable magazines.”
“But lawmakers watered it down, a tad, requiring the 12-hour, $500 course as a sop to fellow Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, who balked at signing onto an outright ban,” the editorial authors stated.
Under the new law, described in the editorial as “convoluted and very likely unconstitutional,” Colorado citizens hoping to purchase modern semiautomatic firearms must first complete a gun safety course administered by the state Parks and Wildlife department.
“The psychology of gun control is a curious thing to watch when it overtakes lawmakers,” the Gazette editorial muses. “Plenty of them are smart people, and they certainly are motivated to succeed in public office. Surely, they must be aware no data has shown gun-control laws led to any drop in gun violence.”
Enactment of the law appears to have had the opposite effect envisioned by Centennial State anti-gunners. KUSA in Denver is reporting that in the days leading up to the Aug. 1 effective date of the new law, people bought “a ton of guns.” This is a typical pattern with new gun control legislation. Law-abiding gun owners not wanting to be impaired by new restrictions play “beat the clock” by making purchases prior to new regulations kicking in.
As the editorial explains about anti-gun lawmakers, “They also must be aware criminals don’t care if a particular make or model of firearm is “illegal” before using it in an carjacking or an armed robbery. And that ex-cons who aren’t supposed to have guns easily acquire them and routinely carry them.
“All of which suggests the latest measure to become law in Colorado, like its forebears, is nothing more than an effort to legislate wishful thinking. It’s as if they believe law-abiding citizens in a civilized society really shouldn’t have guns, anyway.”
