Colorado gun control Tom Sullivan
Rep. Tom Sullivan, D-Aurora (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
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Colorado has an impressive history of holding anti-gun politicians accountable for infringements against gun owners’ rights. In post-Sandy Hook 2013, backed by millions of Bloombucks shipped in from New York, the state rammed through a magazine capacity limit law, universal background checks and a new background check fee. Because do something. That led to Magpul pulling out of the state.

In response, Coloradans initiated recall campaigns against the state legislators most closely associated with the new laws.

Despite even more Bloombucks pumped in to fight the effort, Senate President John Morse was recalled. So was Sen. Angela Giron. It was the first time Coloradans had ever recalled elected officials. And rather than face what polls showed would be sure defeat, Senator Evie Hudak resigned before the election. Opponents failed to get enough signatures to get the recall of Rep Mike McLachlin on the ballot. Still, three outta four ain’t bad.

Now Colorado has enacted one of the most sweeping “red flag” laws in the country (that allows virtually anyone — not just relatives and those close to a target — to initiate a confiscation order against anyone who poses a “significant risk”).

In response, a recall effort has been initiated against Rep. Tom Sullivan of Aurora who sponsored the bill.

“Rep. Tom Sullivan needs to be recalled because, like the rest of the Democrats in the legislature this session, he did not represent the families of Colorado,” said Kristi Burton Brown, an attorney and the vice-chair of the Colorado Republican Party. She filed the request with the secretary of state.

“Colorado moms were shut down again and again when they came to testify, and Rep. Sullivan continually voted against our families’ interests. The Democrat overreach this session was simply too far,” Brown said.

Sullivan’s son was murdered in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting and he has made stricter gun control laws his signature issue.

Sullivan was the main sponsor of Colorado’s so-called “red flag” gun law, which allows courts to temporarily remove firearms from people considered a danger to themselves or others. He stands by his bill.

“I won’t be bullied by the gun lobby and I will always keep my promises to my community and my constituents,” Sullivan said in a statement responding to the recall effort.

The effort has been certified by Colorado’s secretary of state. Now recall proponents will start the process of collecting a little more than 10 thousand signatures needed to get the recall measure on the next ballot.

Look for the Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex to marshal all of its forces (out-of-state billionaires, moms in red t-shirts, the state’s editorial boards)  to oppose the recall campaign. Just as they did last time. Stay tuned.

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61 COMMENTS

  1. I’m sorry he lost his son. But his death doesn’t excuse the infringement of my Constitutional rights. In fact, comparatively speaking, his personal loss is inconsequential. He can pound sand.

    • Exactly. Suffering a personal tragedy may give you a bloody shirt to wave but it doesn’t provide you with the moral authority to infringe on constitutionally guaranteed rights.

      • Sorry he lost his son. However, his loss does not give him the right to place the lives of other citizens in jeopardy by foolish legislation that hinders self protection and violates 2A. This business of everyone and anyone declaring another person to be a threat/danger is too subjective and has to be stopped. Spit in the street and anyone could declare you a threat!

    • Law abiding gun owners didn’t kill his son, and raping their Constitutional rights will not save another life. All it will do is set people up as victims.

    • So true ! He says he standing up for the people of his state, what about the PEOPLE who are Law abiding ??? RED FLAG Law without any recourse to the people who are Targeted is wrong, recall his ass !!

  2. “Single issue” voters are one thing but single issue legislators are an embarrassment to public service and a danger to liberty. Their position does not afford them the luxury of being too passionate on any single thing.

  3. CO also killed HB 1312, nice to see a state that still represents the public over special interests. A growing rarity these days.

  4. I hate to break the news to Sullivan, but his son was killed in a gun-free zone. Seems to me, by his own thinking, his son should have been in the safest place around. Sad to say, this father still has not figured out that punishing the law abiding for criminals actions will do nothing to stop crime. Also, what Colorado should do is run out all the Californians that have moved into that state in recent years. Californians have wrecked and ruined what used to be a wonderful state called “Montana”, now they have wrecked this state, as well Maybe Colorado residents should drive these Demon-Rats back to where they came from-where they might be more comfortable taking everyone’s rights away so that the criminals can feel more comfortable.

  5. Colorado, like the rest of the American West, is lost. in 20 years, even Montana will look like California. Washington and Oregon and Colorado much, much sooner. The Demonrat wave marches on at the state level while everyone is worried about the Feds.

    • Montana is already lost, sad to say. Californians who decided they did not like what was going on in their state started packing up and moving there about 25-30 years ago. They came in, and started voting for the same crap that they hated in their former state. It is just another California satellite, sad to say. It is why I think that former-Californians should never being allowed to vote, or run for office in their “new state”, because most of them are too damned dumb to learn from their mistakes. I have met some very nice former-Californians that do not hate the Constitution, but the “fruit-and-nuts” seem to be the ones that change everything-and not for the good. Ironically enough, it was a Democrat-former-Californian that has twice in the last two years, tried to introduce a “Red Flag” law in our state legislature. Thankfully, as with this year, the bill has gone nowhere-for now.

      • I think Wyoming should run PSAs in coastal progressive disaster cites comparing us unfavorably with Flint. Footage of a toxic wasteland with Leatherface dancing about would a be good start. Have you heard about the Ebola breakout here. It is awful! It’s a 4th world shithole. Pray for us.

        • I have heard nothing about Wyoming, Vic. It is as though your state does not exist. However, if there is an Ebola outbreak taking place, it is not surprising that left-wing liberal media would want to keep that buried. Is Wyoming turning into a California, as well? That is too bad, if it is. I always thought (maybe erroneously), that Wyoming was a bit like Montana. At least used to be…?

        • It is about 60% Republican but the population is <600k, so just a tiny fraction of the progressive coastal metropolitan areas could take over pretty quickly. I have lived in 10 states for six months or more in my life and this is by far most satisfying and comfortable of them for me. I hope I am done moving. I just fear that what happened to CO and is happening to Montana will happen here. I was, of course, making up the bad things I was saying about it. I want to add however that Leatherface wears a MAGA hat, is more than one person here, and eats children;-)

        • Not sure why they’re targeting Montana. They have 3 electoral votes. Wyoming has 3 votes. Colorado has 9 votes. Maybe they’re just going state by state down the list.

      • I’ve lived in CA for at least half my life, now. For all the years I’ve been commenting here on ttag I have a recurring theme. If you want to break gun control you have to break CA. Like it or not CA powers all things progressive in this country. Move to a ‘free state’. You will just cost yourself time, effort and money that will be wasted because CA is coming after you.

        Part of the problem is that too many potg consider this to be a state by state issue. It is not. The constitution is nationwide. If we concede ‘slave states’ to the enemy we are accepting that our rights are not solid and that they can be infringed upon.

        Would a Christian tear every other page out of the bible and accept what was left as the word of God?

        • Would a Christian accept having human diploid cells from aborted fetuses injected him/herself?

        • Perhaps getting the new immigrants in California on-board with gun ownership/sports and self defense is the way to go. A lot of East Europeans are fine with guns in the Chicago area. They lived thru the Soviet era. Mexico bans guns for the average citizen. The people have no defense against the cartels. This could be swing voter thing.

        • Victoria. I do what I can. I’ve taken a lot of first timers from a lot of different countries and cultures to the range. Unfortunately not too many folks are single issue voters. And a lot of these folks look at CA gun laws and see them as easier to live with than the laws of their home countries.

        • I tried CA and found it miserable. I am a bit happier now and guess that my vote counts for more due the population per senator ratio. My congressional vote has the same weight if not slightly more than it would in CA. It is hard to escape the notion that you are adding to your state government’s wealth and power by living there and giving them your money. I was under the impression that you lived there for family reasons. I understand that and do not fault you for it. However I will stay here and help contribute two senators on our side to the fight rather than live in CA and add to that state’s weight and power. I suspect in the long run the war will be lost either way. That is simply how societies age and fall into disrepair. Until then, I am arguably freer than I would be if I lived in CA and imagine that I probably will stay that way for my modest foreseeable lifetime remaining.

        • Yes, Vic. I’m retired but it will be some years before my wife retires. Marrying a younger woman has its good and bad points. It’s at least 5 years before I would be free enough to move.

          But we also have kids and grandkids here. I’m hoping the courts will help since #orangemanbad has been stacking them.

      • Joe, I thought Montana was still fine anywhere except Missoula. Am I mistaken? From what I know the only downside is that it’s a pro labor union state rather than a right-to-work state, so the teachers union screws the kids out of the chance for a decent education and hamstrings charter schools. The Cato Institute ranks it as the 16th most free state in the USA https://www.freedominthe50states.org/overall/montana . I am actually seriously considering moving there, say to the Bitterroot or the Flathead valley area, what are the downsides that I am missing? I like to shoot at my own firing range, grow fruit and veggies and harvest firewood on my few acres, hunt, fish, and have good schools for my kids. Is Montana not the dream state for all of that?

    • Low tax states are going to be lost. Older folks are moving out of California and the northern high tax states as they retire and moving to states with lower or no state income taxes and other taxes. We in Florida are screwed as we are getting over 900 retirees a day moving from New York, Mass, New Jersey and the other high tax states.
      They sell the house up there for over $500,000 on average and come down here and buy into a gated community with Draconian home association rules and start complaining about all they feel with wrong with how things are done here. Hey its a low tax state, how are we supposed to provide all the amenities you were used to up were you came from.?
      Give us a few more years and we will be as blue as blue can be.
      Texas, and most of the southern and western states are also going to be color shifted as the tax avoiding retirees crowd in.

    • Yes, Colorado is lost. It is now a 1 party state. Recalling one elected official won’t do a damn thing. The red flag debacle was passed without a single Republican vote. Colorado is done, ruined by Denver and all the Californians who moved in and wrecked the state’s housing market and now political system…….

  6. As it seems Anti American Leftists/Marxists want to infringe on rights,why not infringe back and just ban Anti American Leftists/Marxists and be done with it for once and all.

    • The United States does have a law already for such things. The maximum punishment is death.

      If you were to “remove” leftists from America that would be at least 60% of the population. Most women and young people would be gone.

      • If 60% of the population were Marxists then I wonder why we haven’t had a Marxist government for the past several decades? However when the Left encourages violence, do what a true Christian does, turn your plow share into a sword and show the idiot the error of his ways and pray that God have mercy on his soul.

    • Green Mtn. Boy,

      Unfortunately, your plan will never work because we could never get a majority of people to vote for it.

      Important note: Progressives/Marxists believe that any policy/law is “right” as long as a majority of the people vote for it. If a majority of the people voted that government can take away your firstborn child for whatever purpose they wish, almost all Progressives/Marxists would support it.

      • The United States is nearly there with regards to majority rule. What do you think a Democracy is? It is nothing more than mob rule. The United States ceased being a Republic a long time ago. Now, Democrats are clamoring to get rid of that bothersome, “outdated Electoral College”. So once they are successful at eliminating that, there will be no reason for the other, low-populated states to vote, much less stay in the Union.

        • Balkanization is the future. Population exchanges between regions like what turkey and greece did in the 20s. “You can have our liberals for your conservatives”. Get in where you fit in.

  7. The Red Flag laws are nothing but an over reach method of American Socialist using an emotional issue to persuade non-thinkers to back their unconstitutional need to remove weapons from the public. It’s no different than people who back 3rd trimester abortion excused as a life saving effort for women, when in most cases its a birth control method for a baby that could be put up for adoption if its almost full term.

    Point is,.. Democrats lie and use these deceptive tactics that non-thinking Americans don’t see through. Democrats are liars, anti-American, and are willing to destroy are great Republic to further their agendas, whatever they are. We must never allow a Democrat to take office, and we all have to be politically active.

      • They are sort of doing that here in Wyoming. We opted out of motor/voter, so instead we were forced to adopt crossover voting. This last cycle dems re registered republican to try to vote in rino dim wits. Over 80% of Jackson Hole dems re registered just before the election. Don’t know the amount in the other big cities in eastern Wyo, but I would say probably quite a few did so.
        @ Vic Nighthorse; contact your local state rep and bitch about it. Mine won’t return my e-mails or phone calls. He calls himself a republican, but I have my doubts.

        • Whatever Trump was before does not matter today. What he is doing today matters. He is the first and best, hardest working President, doing what I’ve been asking Republicans to do for the last 35 years, since I started observing politics and became an politically educated voter.

        • His reformation of the Judicial system has been breathtaking. Anyone interested in seeing the literal destruction of leftism must acknowledge that this alone is enough to offer full throated, unequivocal support for his re-election.

  8. The people who think giving up freedom for one life are dangerous. Like the man said many, many years ago, “Those who surrender some freedom for a little safety get nor deserve either. Evidently, you can push those people just so far. I guess all the drug using libs who moved there in the past 20 years thought they had it made. Wait until the ER doctors rise in protest.

  9. “Colorado Recall Effort Targets Aurora Rep Who Sponsored State’s ‘Red Flag’ Law”

    Good, remind the liberal bastards the THEY work for the people, NOT the other way around…

    Actions have consequences…

  10. Recalls are great and all … but it would be better to not have elected these people in the first place. Even if a recall succeeds, the bad law is still left behind and in force.

    • You are right, No One. Never, ever underestimate stupid voters in large numbers. You can recall all the crooked politicians you want. But sad to say, there were enough voters who put them there in the first place-who maybe just as willing to replace the recalled politicians with someone even worse.

  11. I don’t care that he lost a child in a mass murder. That means nothing to me. I don’t care that Senator John McCain spent years in a North Vietnamese prison. Tortured. Permanently disabled because of the torture. Both of these individuals worked to take away my civil rights. They are the enemy. The things they suffered mean and nothing when they work to destroy the Constitution of the United States.

  12. I, Tom Sullivan, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Con… *Pfft…* No, I don’t! But I will take the job anyway.

    I will do what my community and my constituents ask me to do regardless of morality or legality. That, I promise you.

  13. This asshole deserves not only recall, but a trial for undermining the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution these slime ball politicians swear to uphold and protect!

  14. pg2. You have the same problem as us gun owners. If you truly believe that you have the right to refuse vaxxes and medical care you will also have to break CA’s hold on the nation. Cause CA pushes the mandatory vaccines. And how CA goes, so goes the nation.

  15. “impressive history of holding anti-gun politicians accountable for infringements”? How about the successes of overturning said infringements? Batting .000 there.

  16. The poor snowflake isn’t being bullied by anyone, especially the gun control lobby. He is in fact bullying his constituents by ignoring them to ramrod his agenda. He should be recalled for failing to faithfully represent the citizens of his district.

  17. Same old elite commie’s never learn from history…and think they have all the answers and everybody should just live up their right to live.

    Boiling tar and feathers and a rope ride through cactus behind a spirited unbroken stallion 4 starters would help these commie’s see what America is all about.

  18. Thank You!
    Lets keep posting their faces and all their information of those who are enemies’ of our constitution and everything that goes along with it. Proactive!

  19. I keep hearing that we must keep guns out of the hands of criminals. That is backwards. If someone is thought to be dangerous, do not try to change the weapon that they might use. Remove them to a place where they can be helped and controlled away from any weapons. You do not keep cars away from drunks, you keep drunks away from cars. Keep putting the criminals in jail when they perform criminal acts. That keeps their hands away from guns. Adding more fees and permits to legally have firearms does nothing to the criminal having firearms.

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