Colorado gun owners deserve equal treatment

By Alan Gottlieb and Dave Workman

Even before Colorado lawmakers wisely passed legislation that would bring uniformity to the Centennial State's concealed weapons statute, and place sole authority for setting the state's gun laws in the hands of the Legislature, anti-gunners and bureaucrats fearful of losing some authority over the citizens they serve were getting hysterical, and we don't mean "funny."

Passage of "shall issue" legislation mandating that any law-abiding Coloradoan who meets the requirements be issued a concealed pistol license has been good enough for citizens in 33 other states. What makes Colorado residents so different that some politicians and police administrators think they are too unstable to responsibly carry guns for their own protection?

What is at stake here is what's been at stake in every other jurisdiction, and it boils down to the loss of some paternalism and patronage at the local level, a scenario that all too often leads to demagoguery. While we certainly respect the efforts of police to protect us, the public has a right to protect itself. No police administrator should ever have the authority to deny law-abiding citizens the right to arm themselves against criminal attack.

Nowhere that such laws have already passed has there been a subsequent rise of bloodbath gunfights between properly licensed gun owners. Quite the opposite has occurred, and everybody knows it. Lawmen in other states with "shall-issue/right-to-carry" statutes have eventually found themselves admitting that these laws work.

The same can be said for state pre-emption. The time has long passed when cities can operate like fiefdoms in the middle of a larger democracy. By eliminating the ability of local politicians to set up their own city-states, legislators put real meaning to the concept of "equal under the law." Citizens in Denver should enjoy the same rights as citizens in Durango. Colorado is, after all, a sovereign state, not a collective of imperial realms.

Anti-gun lawmakers and activists have declared war on this sensible change in Colorado gun law philosophy; this, despite a recent internet poll by the Denver Post that showed 88 percent of the respondents favoring statewide gun law uniformity. If nothing else, that suggests the anti-gunners are not in step with the majority of citizens.

After the gun law reform measures were passed, Sen. Ron Tupa (D-Boulder) told a reporter, "I'm sorry to see this day come." Really? Why is that? One would think that a Democrat, after all, would be for equality for all Colorado residents.

State Rep. Rosemary Marshall (D-Denver) incredibly commented that, "I actually think carrying guns will promote fear. We know that many of us are going to be victims of that fear."

We remind Rep. Marshall of the words of another Democrat, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who said in 1933: "The only thing we have to fear is fear, itself." If anyone fears an armed citizen, it is the criminal who prefers defenseless victims.

Fountain Police Chief John Morse complained that state pre-emption would limit local authorities, who best know the needs of their communities, according to one newspaper report. Pardon us, chief, but that sounds awfully parochial.

Lastly we come to Tom Mauser, whose son, Daniel, was a victim at Columbine High School. He complains that state pre-emption is simply a convenience to gun owners so they don't have to check about local gun laws from one city to the next. He's right. The same laws and rules should apply everywhere. What's wrong with that?

Mr. Mauser was convinced that passage of gun law reform means "they have forgotten Columbine."

We won't forget Columbine. Even if we wanted to, which we do not - but for different reasons than Mr. Mauser - he wouldn't let us. Mr. Mauser's campaign against gun crime has become a crusade against gun rights. Perhaps his efforts are to give some meaning, to make some sense of the tragic death of his son and the other Columbine victims. With all due respect to Mr. Mauser and his terrible loss, the Columbine massacre has nothing at all to do with the rights of law-abiding Colorado residents, unless one considers the right to defend one's self and loved ones from the kind of monsters manifested in the twisted minds and blackened souls of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.

Colorado prides itself on being progressive. It is a beautiful place, and its citizens should stand second in line to nobody, especially when it comes to their civil rights. But civil rights must be equal rights, from Four Corners to Julesburg. Among those rights is self-defense, the exercise of which should never be subject to prior approval from the local police official.

Sensible Colorado lawmakers have acted to make this so.

Alan Gottlieb is founder of the Second Amendment Foundation. Dave Workman is communications director for the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.