With Nov. 6 gains, Colorado Democrats boost prospects for new laws targeting gun violence

One Saturday in March, a month after the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., angry demonstrators filled Denver’s Civic Center Park with a warning for elected officials: Come Nov. 6, we’ll make our voices heard.

Outraged by the shooting deaths of 17 high school students, they, like other March for Our Lives participants across the country, vowed to turn out politicians who were weak on gun control.

Here in Colorado, they found success. On the cusp of the 20th anniversary of the Columbine killings, Colorado’s blue-wave election ushered in a high-profile gun-control activist and father of a mass-shooting victim to the legislature, dislodged a five-term incumbent congressman backed by the National Rifle Association, and pushed out a prominent gun-rights state senator from Littleton. Voters also elected an attorney general who championed gun safety, and gave Democrats the majority in both legislative chambers, making passage of the “red flag” gun-confiscation law much more likely next year.

The elections in Colorado, which saw a record turnout of unaffiliated voters, by no means hinged on a single issue like guns. Exit surveys found President Donald Trump largely to blame for a resounding defeat of party members who embraced him up and down the ballot.

Read more: https://www.coloradoindependent.com/2018/11/15/colorado-guns-election-2018-session/