While there’s no shortage of video on the web of politicians revealing their shockingly ignorant views on gun laws, the most recent example depicting Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper backpedaling on his decisions to sign the state’s most recent gun-control measures into law is quite jaw-dropping.
The footage is from a meeting in Aspen, Colorado, last Friday in which Hickenlooper addressed a room full of County Sheriffs from across the state.
During the Q&A the governor is asked a couple of questions on the gun-control laws he backed in the wake of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, including an enhanced background check measure subjecting all private firearms transfers to a FFL-facilitated background check and a ban on magazines holding more than 15 rounds of ammunition.
In a blatant attempt to curry favor with the sheriffs, who have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s new gun laws, Hickenlooper uses every trick in the book:
- He evidently lies, telling the sheriffs he did not talk with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg prior to signing the laws into effect when, according to records released by his own office, he clearly did.
- He offers an awkward, half-hearted apology, “I think we screwed that up completely” said the governor, in referencing universal background checks.
- He cites statistics that don’t appear to exist, saying that roughly a third of all cops fatally shot were killed with firearms that had magazines with 15-plus round capacities, a spokesman for his office told The Denver Post that he doesn’t know where the governor pulled that stat from (though, I’m pretty sure we have a fair idea).
- He blames other people, suggesting that he only signed the mag ban because “one of my staff had committed us to signing it.”  He went on to say, “Once you give your word, or someone who works for you gives your word for you — someone who has the responsibility and the ability to do that — generally you try not to go back on that,” Hickenlooper said.
To make matters worse, Hickenlooper acknowledged that the ban makes no sense given that there are an estimated 300,000 15-plus round magazines currently in circulation in Colorado making them widely available to anyone hellbent on obtaining one.
“How’s a police enforcement officer going to tell which is the old one? The new one?” Hickenlooper, adding “how big of a difference is (the law) going to make if there are that many? If some kid, some punk kid in Aurora wants to get out there and start spray-shooting his neighbor, which has still happened right in Aurora, in Denver, in Colorado Springs — it’s not like you’re going to have a hard time finding the magazine.”
Hickenlooper is running for re-election this year. Those who value their right to keep and bear arms would be wise to watch the below and consider whether they want a leader who not only did all of the aforementioned, but openly confessed to pursuing policy solutions without knowing the facts and discussing the matter with leaders in the law enforcement community.
“So we were forming legislation without basic facts, which I think is a bad idea in every case,” said Hickenlooper. “[It] took almost a month to get all the facts. By that time, I pissed you guys off, you know, they already passed legislation that I said I was going to sign.”
