John Hickenlooper on Gun Control Democratic Presidential Challenger (withdrew, Aug. 2019); CO Governor

Fundamental nonsense of government: Washington can't act

Guns make you less safe, not more

• Beto O'Rourke, Former congressman from Texas: "In an ideal world, we would listen to people instead of political action committees and the gun lobby and the NRA."
• John Hickenlooper, Former governor of Colorado: "Study after study shows that having a handgun, in most cases, makes you less safe, not more."
• Juli n Castro, Former housing secretary: "In an ideal world, people would not own handguns."
• Cory Booker, Senator from New Jersey: "As president of the United States, I'm going to bring a fight to this problem like folks have never seen before."
• Kamala Harris, Senator from California: "We need to be practical on this. We need to pass smart gun safety laws."
• Bill de Blasio, NYC Mayor: "In the ideal world, gun ownership would be treated very, very differently."

Ban on high-capacity magazines

Mental illness & weak gun laws both contribute to violence

School shootings weaken country by terrorizing ourselves

Gov. John HICKENLOOPER (D-CO): We're at the point where we're allowing ourselves to be terrorized by ourselves. If you wanted to weaken this country, what better way to do it than to make children afraid to go to school? And it's not just schools; it's churches; it's listening to a country music concert; it's all the places that we create community are now being threatened by our inability to deal with this.

Gov. John KASICH (R-OH): What I've asked people to do is you've got to search your heart on this: this is not about who's got political power; this is not about campaign contributions; this is about how you want to look in the mirror and think about what you'd do when you were in. Nobody wants to take everybody's guns away, nobody wants to repeal the second amendment, oh a few people, but this is about reasonable approaches to keep our community safe.

Make mental health part of discussion on mass killings

"I think that [gun control] debate's going to happen. It has already started. But you look at this person, again, almost a creature, if he couldn't have gotten access to guns, what kind of bomb he would have manufactured? We're at a time, an information age, where there's access to all kinds of information... I think he was almost a terrorist that wanted to take away not just from the people here, but from the country, our ability to enjoy life, to go to a movie theater. Which for most of us is a refuge where we can get away from the pressures of life. It's a human issue. How are we not able to identify someone like this who is so deeply, deeply disturbed?"

Universal background checks for all gun sales

Then we got to it.

"Let me prime the pump: Why not have universal background checks for all gun sales? . Surely, Second Amendment advocates and gun control supporters can find common ground in support of this proposition: Let's examine our laws and make the changes needed to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people.

"It's not enough to prevent dangerous people from getting weapons. We have to do a better job of identifying and helping people who are a threat to themselves and others. That is why we are requesting your support for a comprehensive overhaul of our state's mental health system."

Develop a program to reduce suicides by gun

CO cares about 2nd Amendment, but also safe communities

HICKENLOOPER: Well, we don't think so. Some people have suggested perhaps there's a copycat element to this. But he bought the gun legally; then he bought a large amount of ammunition. Having had these episodes in the past, we do have strategies and protocols in place, where we had a deputy sheriff who was there within a minute of the first shots.

Q: You had two state legislators who were recalled from office because they led the effort to tighten gun laws out there. Where do you see this going?

HICKENLOOPER: Two things that Coloradoans deeply care about is the protection of their Second Amendment rights, but they also care deeply about making their community safer. Things like universal background checks, I think they are going to make us safer. But in this specific case, it's not going to make a difference at all.

Universal background checks & ban on high capacity magazines

However it's difficult to say with certainty just how much the state's strict new gun control laws play into voters' feelings on Hickenlooper. In early 2013 polling, Colorado voters overwhelmingly favored universal background check legislation and a strong majority supported a ban on high capacity magazines which hold more than 10 rounds.

State Senate "Line item recall" about too-strict gun control

HICKENLOOPER: Definitely what we called this was a "line item recall." I'm not sure it has a national message or even a statewide message.

Q: Is there unease with the broader Democratic social agenda?

HICKENLOOPER: No. I saw most of the campaign literature in both of those recall campaigns. To the vast majority, it was very specific about universal background checks, high capacity magazines.

Q: NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg heads up a mayor's group that is pushing for more gun control. He sunk a lot of money into trying to save these two Democratic state senators. Was it helpful?

HICKENLOOPER: In Colorado, like a lot of western states, we like to solve our own problems with our own people. So, there is a certain resentment when any outside money whether it's from Bloomberg or from National Rifle Association.

Universal background checks but no assault weapon ban

HICKENLOOPER: After the shootings last summer in the movie theater, we really focused on mental health first then universal background checks. Colorado is a state where we have a long tradition of a relationship with guns and hunting and that traditional approach from father to child. So we tried to tighten up a little bit things like universal background checks which clearly make a significant difference, that's where we put our initial focus.

Q: Do you think that the Congress is wrong not to go after an assault weapons ban?

HICKENLOOPER: I think the feeling right now around assault weapons at least in Colorado is that they're so hard to define what an assault weapon is. There's a lot of questions whether the federal ban made a difference. It's a tough sell.

Keep guns out of the hands of mentally ill

Keep guns out of the hands of mentally ill can find common ground in support of this proposition: Let's examine our laws and make the changes needed to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. It's not enough to prevent dangerous people from getting weapons. We have to do a better