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Representatives of the Newtown-based National Shooting Sports Foundation stand in their booth at the National Conference of State Legislatures in Chicago in August. From left, Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel; Jake McGuigan, NSSF director of government relations – state affairs; and Mike Bazinet, NSSF director of public affairs. (www.nssf.org)

NEWTOWN, Conn. — The National Shooting Sports Foundation today issued the following statement after the successful recall elections on Tuesday of State Senate President John Morse and State Sen. Angela Giron:

When legislators fail to represent the beliefs of their constituents, it is up to the voters to fire them. And this is exactly what happened Tuesday in the Colorado Springs district of John Morse and the Pueblo district of Angela Giron. Sens. Morse and Giron chose to forget about their constituents. Instead, Sen. Morse led the hasty effort that led to the passage of a series of highly restricted gun control laws that will do nothing to improve public safety but that did reflect the wishes of national anti-gun organizations, including the one led by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Sen. Giron was a key vote in this ill-considered effort . . .

On behalf of our members, we congratulate the grassroots effort of the Coloradans who stood up for their Second Amendment rights against a well-financed effort that poured a massive amount of money into the effort to save these seats. Congratulations, too, to Bernie Herpin and George Rivera, who now join the Colorado State Senate and whom we are certain will work diligently to represent the will of their constituents, not forgetting all those who worked so hard to put them in office.

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About NSSF®

The National Shooting Sports Foundation® is the trade association for the firearms industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of more than 8,000 manufacturers, distributors, firearms retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers. For more information, visit www.nssf.org.

 

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24 COMMENTS

  1. We ought to be careful when we say these two representatives did not represent their constituents. Its not about what a majority of the people want. It’s about the boundaries established by the various state constitutions and the federal constitution. Elected officials should be removed from office when they go beyond the boundaries which they took an oath to protect.

    • Said Morse: “We just have to stay away from some of this toxicity. We get the point that some of these folks think their Second Amendment rights are being abridged.… It’s not worth getting into that argument with them, and, so, just move along and don’t read any more of these than you absolutely have to, because it will wear on your psyche.”

      Shorter Morse: “Don’t listen to these people with their ‘arguments.’ Vote and move on.”

    • Yes. Majority does NOT rule if the rules the majority wants to set laws that do not line up with the Constitution. It’s why we have a Constitution in the first place.

      • My question is, was, and remains, if this really is a Second Amendment issue, why is this a state effort to castigate state legislators? Did they violate some portion of the Colorado constitution?

        Why didn’t/doesn’t the SCOTUS take a part in this obvious violation of the Second Amendment? I continue to be confused as to why all the other 9 amendments in the Bill of Rights seem to be national priorities but the 2A is considered “States Rights”.

        If the Second Amendment is the issue here why not California and New York and Illinois, etc.? This needs to be a national issue and decided at the national level, not piecemeal state by state. We as Americans either have an individual right to keep and bear arms that shall not be infringed, or we don’t. SCOTUS told Illinois it had to abide by the constitution and told D.C. as well. Shouldn’t that be the end of this local restriction nonsense?

        Sorry, I am not a lawyer and this greater issue confuses and frustrates me no end.

        • For me, as a Colorado resident, the issue goes much deeper than *just* 2A issues, although they are certainly at the root of it.

          Mr. Morse’s behavior driving how the legislation got passed was more a driving factor for me. Changing long-established rules to prevent Colorado residents from having their voices heard, while at the same time allowing non-residents (Mr. Kelly) as much time as was desired; and purposely scheduling hearings on multiple bills at the same time in different parts of the building, thus ensuring absolute minimum participation in the process for those who *were* allowed to speak; and deriding “out-of-state interests” (which were non-existent at the time) while accepting “out-of-state help” (from Mr. Bloomberg) — these were much more responsible for fueling my involvement in the recall process (however limited it was, given that I do not live in either affected district).

  2. Very good , the results of the election brings to mind one of my favorite quotes “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. ”

    Winston Churchill

    • I’ve determined with the actions of last night that I could never be in charge of the press releases for any of these entities. My simple, two word press released would be “Deez Nuts!”

  3. That’s great, now WHERE IS THE !$#@^#@^$#@^#$ NRA? There’s so much to celebrate here and a great big steaming pile of lies to refute in the MSM. GET OFF YOUR OLD,WHITE,FAT,FUDD !@#%$!#$% AND ISSUE A @#%$#@!$#%@% STATEMENT!

    • You might also want to check yesterday’s press release on the http://www.nraila.org website: “Second Amendment Rights Prevail in Colorado.” They probably haven’t had time to get the NYTimes full-page ad published yet, if that happens to be your preferred media outlet.

  4. After the next round of elections, they should start another grass roots campaign to eliminate that ridiculous magazine restriction.

  5. Strange, the coverage on this recall election in our local birdcage liner (aka “the Idaho Statesman”) was about 2 sentences long, hidden in the lower left corner of page 6, and failed to mention that Giron was tossed out as well as Morse. They also failed to mention the huge amounts of money pumped in to the Democrats by Bloomberg’s anti-gun group. I can’t figure out why this wasn’t front page news, when they splashed the Colorado gun/magazine ban all over the front page last Spring.

    You don’t suppose there may be a teenie bit of anti-gun bias on the editorial staff of our newspaper, do you? Nah, can’t be – they are professional journalists who would NEVER let their personal biases reflect on what they choose to cover. This recall election in Colorado was just not really news. Sure.

    • Liberal bias will not allow their constituents and representatives to be reminded that hasty ill conceived legislation is political suicide.

    • The newspaper probably “went to the presses” before the results were in for the two recall elections. Most papers have a deadline beyond which a story just can’t get into the next edition. After that deadline, the layout department fits everything together on the pages, and sends it to the printing presses. The printing must be completed by very early in the morning, so the papers can be delivered on time in the morning.
      Morse’s results came in fairly quickly and probably just beat the presses deadline. So they wrote something very quickly and squeezed it into the newspaper. Giron’s results did not come in until much later, probably after the presses deadline. Look for more coverage in tomorrow’s paper.

      • True – but the recall of the Colorado Senate Majority Leader over the gun issue was an important enough story that it should have been on the front page, especially given the front page coverage the local rag gave to the Colorado anti-gun laws when they were passed.

  6. While it was small I am so glad I made contribution to the Basic Freedom Defense Fund last week. A lot of small trumped the big guys including Bloomberg. Congratulations Colorado, we all need to take note of those in our states who oppose gun rights before it gets to this point.

  7. Offered for consideration:

    “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
    http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html
    _________

    Declaration and enumeration of a specific ‘Right’ as established within the Constitution of the Great State of Colorado — that all persons within and acting on behalf of the government are Morally, Ethically, and Legally bound to ‘Secure’ for the Citizens as follows:

    “The right of no person to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person and property, or in aid of the civil power when thereto legally summoned, shall be called in question; but nothing herein contained shall be construed to justify the practice of carrying concealed weapons.“ Art. II, § 13 (enacted 1876, art. II, § 13).
    [Self-defense right explicitly protected.]
    http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/beararms/statecon.htm

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