Biden lobbies as Colo. approves gun-control measures

Rep. Dickey Lee Hullingworst, center, D-Boulder, shows House Minority Leader Mark Waller, left, R-Colorado Springs and Rep. Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland, her whistle as the debate over gun control bills goes on at the Capitol in Denver on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. / AP Photo/Ed Andrieski

DENVER A package of Democratic gun control measures began moving through the Colorado Legislature Friday, with Vice President Joe Biden personally phoning four lawmakers from his Colorado ski vacation to speed along the emotional debate.

Biden phoned three freshmen in the state House from moderate districts, along with Democratic House Speaker Mark Ferrandino. The calls came several hours after the chamber started a long debate over gun-control measures including expanded background checks and ammunition limits — responses to mass shootings, including the killings at a Colorado movie theater.

Those two measures advanced on unrecorded voice votes Friday. Lawmakers were told to prepare to debate late into the night on other gun-control measures, new fees on background checks and a ban on concealed weapons on public college campuses.

One of the freshmen, Democratic Rep. Tony Exum, hails from conservative Colorado Springs and said he had no idea who would be on the line when a "restricted" number rang his cellphone during afternoon debate.

"He said, `This is Vice President Joe Biden.' I said, `No way!"' Exum recalled with a chuckle after the call.

Exum said that Biden repeatedly called him "chief," a reference to Exum's former service as a fire chief. Exum said Friday night that his mind was already made up to support the gun-control measures, but Biden asked about the package's prospects. Exum said prospects were good and that he was happy to hear from the vice president on Colorado's gun debate.

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Biden also talked to Democratic Rep. Mike McLachlan, whose southwest Colorado district includes more Republicans than Democrats.

The vice president also called Democratic Rep. Dominick Moreno, a lawmaker from suburban Denver.

"We just had a brief conversation about what we're doing today and emphasized the importance of Colorado's role in shaping national policy around this issue," he said. Asked what he thought Biden meant, Moreno said, "Well, I can only speculate, but I think mostly because Colorado is such a politically moderate state."

Biden left a message for Ferrandino but didn't speak to him.

The vice president was in Snowmass, just outside Aspen, for a holiday weekend skiing trip with his granddaughters.

Colorado's votes capping magazine sizes and requiring background checks for all gun purchases came after eight hours of debate. The votes were preliminary and unrecorded, but they were the first chance for many lawmakers to debate gun control after mass shootings last year in Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn.

"These high-capacity weapons have no place outside the fields of war," said Rep. Rhonda Fields, an Aurora Democrat who sponsored the ammunition bill, which limits magazines to 15 rounds for all firearms, with a more restrictive eight-round limit for shotguns. The bill makes an exception for magazines that people already have in their possession.

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Republicans in the chamber spent hours arguing that the limit violates Second Amendment rights. They also cited a Colorado gun manufacturer that has threatened to leave Colorado if the measure becomes law. The bill was amended to exempt that company, but Republicans still argued against the measure.

"We are not safer by limiting the constitutional rights of law-abiding firearm owners," said Republican Rep. Frank McNulty.

A few Democrats appeared to agree Friday, though an exact vote count won't be known until recorded votes are taken Monday. GOP leaders were hoping gun activists would spend the weekend pressuring rural Democrats like Rep. Ed Vigil of southern Colorado, the only Democrat who argued Friday against any ammunition limit.

"We should be going down the path of making mental health available to people who really need it," Vigil argued.

The gun debate was at times emotional and pointed. One gun lobbyist was asked to leave the Capitol after a heated exchange off the floor with a Republican lawmaker who said the lobbyist was falsely accusing her of considering voting for the gun-control measures. The gallery was at times packed with gun-rights activists.

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Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper has said favors some of the gun-control measures. Hickenlooper supports expanded background checks and indicated Thursday that he could support a potential amendment on magazine sizes, if the restriction was between 15 and 20 rounds.

He also said he thinks gun purchasers should pay for their background checks, but he had not made up his mind yet about the ban on concealed firearms on colleges, bills that were also being debated Friday.

All of the proposals still need to be considered by Democrat-controlled Senate.

Democrats in the Legislature said the time is right to limit gun access and magazine sizes to prevent more shootings.

"This is about kids who have been shot, over and over and over again," said Democratic Rep. Crisanta Duran said. "I am tired of seeing kids die, year after year, after year, after year."

[Larry1355]

Biden reminds me more and more of Charlie McCarthy. The only difference is that the President has his hand up Biden's A.....er back!

[Rob459]

The proof that these laws laws will do nothing to reduce violence is as obvious as simply looking at the deadliest mass shooting in US history - Virginia Tech. The shooter went through background checks to buy his guns (which he paid for). Virginia banned guns on campus, which did nothing to prevent him (someone intent on breaking a much more serious law) from bringing his onto campus, and only insured that he'd have a building of people incapable of self-defense. He also didn't use any so-called "assault weapons", but instead, like the vast majority of mass shooters (and criminals in general), including 3 of the 4 dealiest, he used compact handguns. Even more significantly, he didn't use even a single magazine for either of his guns that held more than the 15-round limit that the Colorado bill sets.

In other words, even under all of Colorado's new bills, he would have been able to carry out the exact same attack with exactly the same guns, using the exact same magazines, with exactly the same results. And the only gun law he would have to break is the same idiotic one that he broke in Virginia - the gun-free campus law.

And what effect did these laws have? He killed more people by a significant number, than any other mass shooter in US history. And despite the fact that he was using "low capacity" magazines and low-powered guns, and that all of his victims were adults, mostly young and healthy, no one was able to disarm him, despite all the BS that restricting magazine size would potentially allow this. What a moronic alternative method of defense to simply allowing responsible law-abiding citizens to be adequately armed for self-defense.

All Colorado citizens represented by a Democrat who voted for these bills need to get involved in a recall effort against their representatives. Show those in the Senate, as well as all politicians in other states and at the national level, that there will be a cost to supporting such worthless and unconstitutional laws.

[eightsigma]

Thanks for reminding me to support the lawmakers voting for this bill.

[4union]

we are going the wrong way on gun controle,im all for upholding the second amedment. what needs to happen is remove all ammo from stores,have all those law bidding people make their own ammo most gun owners do this already,those that are true sportsmen.there is no amendment covering ammo and its not illegal nor unconstitutional to take it off the market.this way we have control over ammo by the regulation already in placecovering gun powder and how much any individuel can purchase.this way you can shoot all you want but you recover your casings to make more,and we can track how much anyone persone is useing.

[Deal_Breaker]

Compare the deaths attributed to alcohol and stack it against those deaths with firearms. Then look carefully at the deaths caused by the firearms, they (the gov) want to ban and or limit. One has created a media circus while the other kills silently in the background..... Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than all of my firearms put together. -->The attention is focused on the dismantling of the Second Amendment, can you imagine what the real prize is in the background.. Go ahead and express your first amendment right; It is protected by The Second Amendment.

[Segesser1]

This is the wrong course of action.

[jd5502]

Texas will be happy to have MagPul products produced here.

[Rifle45]

SC Attorney General: Come Get the Guns!
http://oathkeepers.org/oath/2013/02/16/sc-attorney-general-come-get-the-guns/

[Rifle45]

279 SHERIFFS AND 8 STATE SHERIFFS ASSOCIATIONS SAYING 'NO' TO OBAMA GUN CONTROL

http://po42a.org/?p=194

[Rifle45]

Surge of sheriff groups opposed to Obama gun control rises to 11
In less than four weeks since President Obama proposed sweeping new gun control laws and a ban on assault-style weapons, the backlash from law enforcement groups that strongly support the Second Amendment has surged and now there are 11 state sheriffs associations opposed to the president.
The Illinois and Montana Sheriffs Associations became the last to join the growing crowd of police opposed to Obama, arguing this week that the president and state legislatures should instead be focused on mental health, not gun hardware.
http://m.washingtonexaminer.com/surge-of-sheriff-groups-opposed-to-obama-gun-control-rises-to-9/article/2521564#.UR0rSIe9LCQ

[Deal_Breaker]

Can you imagine if the same amount of influence and power that is being used to dismantle the Second Amendment was used to create jobs, pass a budget, affordable quality healthy foods, lower fuel prices, affordable health care, and better education.
I forgot we raised the minimum wage that should fix it.
Compare the deaths attributed to alcohol and stack it against those deaths with firearms. Then look carefully at the deaths caused by the firearms, they (the gov) want to ban and or limit. One has created a media circus while the other kills silently in the background..... Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than all of my firearms put together. -->The attention is focused on the dismantling of the Second Amendment, can you imagine what the real prize is in the background? things are being drafted and passed around while the citizen rant about firearms.. We could be losing more than just firearms such as privacy but again it is in the background.... Go ahead and express your first amendment right; It is protected by The Second Amendment.

[hankojas]

According to H.R. 11654 which passed in 1902 as a law that cannot be repealed, every legal gun owner's rights are being violated by all the proposed gun legislation, bans and has been violated for over 100 years now.

Per the above, COMMON SENSE suggests that GUN CONTROL IS NOT WORKING!

COMMON SENSE also suggests that current lawmakers are NOT doing their jobs to combat violent crime!

COMMON SENSE SUGGESTS THAT WE NEED NEW LAWMAKERS THAT CAN HELP!!

[Left-Wing-loon]

Colorado ammo magazine maker Magpul threatens to leave state over gun bill
Posted: 02/14/2013 06:39:54 PM MST
Updated: 02/15/2013 01:02:19 AM MST
By Kurtis Lee
The Denver Post
Colorado's largest and most profitable manufacturer of high-capacity ammunition magazines has vowed to leave the state if lawmakers pass a measure banning the devices a move officials with the company say could cost hundreds of jobs and upward of $85 million in potential spending this year.

Magpul's threat has Democratic lawmakers scrambling to strike a balance that remains true to their goal of limiting the number of rounds a magazine can hold without frightening off businesses.

If we're able to stay in Colorado and manufacture a product, but law-abiding citizens of the state were unable to purchase the product, customers around the state and the nation would boycott us for remaining here," said Doug Smith,
"House Bill 1224 bans individuals from possessing high-capacity ammunition magazines of more than 15 rounds an amendment earlier in the week raised this number from 10 rounds but allows manufacturers to stay in Colorado and produce the devices.