Colorado Dems Just Drove Another Stake into the Bill of Rights

The 2nd Amendment died in Colorado on a sunny spring afternoon in Denver, and Democrats murdered it. Yesterday, so-called "moderate" Democrat Gov. Jared Polis put his signature on SB 25-003 — perhaps the most convoluted and restrictive gun control law anywhere in the nation. But don't you worry — Democrats are gunning next for the 1st Amendment.

Polis said at the signing, "This legislation builds on our commitment to improve public safety, reduce gun violence, uphold our freedom." I say, "Oh fer cryin' out loud, it will do none of those things and everybody knows it."

Polis spent months putting on a pantomime "Will He, Won't He?" act about whether he'd sign the bill that began life as a much smaller creature. Originally meant to add teeth to Colorado's existing ban on regular-capacity magazines, the bill quickly metastasized into a 2nd Amendment-killing cancer.

Under SB 25-003, it will now take weeks of appointments, classes, and a minimum of $300 — plus your local sheriff's permission, which you may or may not receive, and that he might revoke for a whole host of reasons — to legally purchase the most common firearms in America. I went into the details here earlier this week.

And Another Thing: Democrats always refer to 15-round mags as "high capacity" but their ubiquity, utility, and the wide availability of much larger magazines reveal the lie. Besides, I'm done playing their disingenuous language games. But I digress.

Denver7's Brandon Richard repeated the other lie that SB 25-003 restricts the manufacture and sale of "certain semiautomatic firearms with detachable magazines," but nothing could be further from the truth. The restrictions are real enough but as Complete Colorado reported last month, the law's definition effectively covers "almost every centerfire semiautomatic handgun" bigger than a .22. In fact, "There is only one centerfire semiautomatic handgun model that does not fall within the bill’s definitions. That unique item is the Benelli B-80, a collector’s item last manufactured in 1990."

For what it's worth, I didn't mean to single out Denver7 or Richard for criticism. Our entire media class is filled with gun-hating ignoramuses who wouldn't know an upper from a magazine.

Up next: House Bill 1312 and its obliteration of 1st Amendment protections and parental rights. HB 1312 says, "It is a discriminatory practice and unlawful to, with specific intent to discriminate, publish materials that deadname or misgender an individual.” The law applies to everything from flyers to blogs to newspapers, and if it becomes law, I could find myself in hot water for referring to a dude in a dress as "he."

Going even further, according to Ari Armstrong:

Part of the bill pertains to child custody. Existing statutes define “coercive control” as “a pattern of threatening, humiliating, or intimidating actions, including assaults or other abuse, that is used to harm, punish, or frighten an individual.” The bill adds deadnaming and misgendering someone as types of “coercive control,” and it directs courts to consider deadnaming and misgendering when deciding matters of child custody.

First, they'll groom your child in school behind your back. Then when you call your son "he" or "him" or use the name you gave him, the state will take your child away.

There's no doubt in my mind that Polis will sign that one and without the pantomime.

There's no way HB 1312 would survive a court challenge but those can take years.

Democrats also have lined up a housing bill (HB 1169) that discriminates between religious and non-religious nonprofits (you can guess in which direction) and a public records bill (SB 77) that effectively creates journalists as a special class with greater privileges than you ordinary rubes.

Remember when lefties used to at least give lip service to free expression? Good times.

Here's a question for some of my libertarian friends who insist that Polis is some kind of moderate, or even a "libertarian Democrat" — whatever the hell that impossible elephant-toaster creature might be.

My question is this: You traded the 1st and 2nd amendments for legal weed. Was it worth it?