Disappointing, but not surprising, results for Prop KK. A new decision on CO's law not allowing those under 21 to purchase a firearm. You should be watching CO Wolf Tracker on Facebook.
Disappointing, but not surprising, results for Prop KK.
Prop KK was a referred measure that levied a tax on those buying guns and/or ammo in Colorado. Said proceeds going to a variety of government programs.
If you want a refresher on the text, I put a link to the online Blue Book summary first below.
It won by a wide margin.
Before talking about what to do about this measure, let's look more in a little more detail at the results. This will serve double duty, because it's an entree into sharing how to navigate around the Secretary of State's ballot measure results page.
The second link below is to the ballot question results page for 2024. Scrolling down, you will find the individual measures.
Screenshot 1 is what you see when you scroll down to Prop KK. There's some info here, but a finer-grained picture can be had by clicking on the lower right (where I highlighted, "Click here to see the map").
When you do, you get the map shown in screenshot 2. Counties where this measure passed are in green, where it failed, are red. Scroll down further on the map page and you'll see a list of counties you can click on to get county-by-county results. I'll leave it to you to explore more there if you'd like.
Note too that this is the same for any ballot measure. If you start again on the ballot measures page, you can repeat this process for any measure you'd like.
I said at the top that this was disappointing. It is. This measure is not fair. It punishes one group for the sins of another (law-abiding gun owners and small gun stores), and it is yet another nibble at our Second Amendment rights; like with gas stoves, they're not going to ban them outright, just try to narrow the window on your options so much that in the end you will have done what they want.
I also said at the top that this result was not surprising. Look again at screenshot 2 and see just who it was that voted to burden you with an extra tax: the Front Range, the rich mountain enclaves, and the populous liberal towns in SW Colorado. Of course they'd vote for this.
I think gun owners (if they're not already) are well on their way to joining smokers in the other" category for many Colorado Democrats. They will be "those people". They will be the ones with the bizarre lifestyle choices, the ones who we can peg with taxes to support things they want but don't want to pay for.
What can you do? I do have some suggestions:
1. Continue to watch gun policy, share information, and speak up. Do not let things go past without saying you disagree. It will probably not change the reality, but you never know, and at least no one can say there was no disagreement. Disrupt their echo chamber.
2. Continue to show those that are not familiar with guns or gun owners what responsible, decent people you are and what responsible gun ownership and use look like. Make a new friend and invite someone to go to the range with you.
3. Continue to support organizations that will fight for your Second Amendment rights in the courts. Unfortunately, those that support your rights in government in Colorado are in the minority. This is the same population-wise. The courts are (for right now) the dependable avenue for protecting your rights.
4. If you live near a border with another state, go and purchase ammunition there. Have a relative that does? Ask them to do this for you.
5. There is a quirk in Prop KK. I took a screenshot from the ballot language (see screenshot 3 attached). This tax will not apply to a business selling less than $20K worth of ammo or firearms per year. If you know someone that qualifies, buy from them. If you are in the business and can be clever enough to figure out how to swing something like this, I see an opportunity.
https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/initiative%2520referendum_proposition%20kk%20final%20lc%20packet.pdf
https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/CO/122598/web.345435/#/summary?category=C_10
Thus the nature of court battles (and not just over gun control)...
Court battles can be lengthy, and when they reach their eventual conclusion years later, it's often the case that people turn around and ask themselves, "what were we fighting for again?"
Such seems to be the case with Colorado's law that forbids the sale of guns to people younger than 21.
--The law was passed in 2023.
--It was challenged in court. At that point, an injunction on enforcing the law was brought down by a Federal judge until the law could get a hearing. See the first link below for a contemporaneous Sun story on the suit and ruling.*
--The most recent update (see the second link below) is a reversal of that earlier decision. The State of Colorado appealed the first judge's injunction and a three-judge panel (all Democrat appointees**) unanimously ruled that the injunction can't stand. The law can (and my guess is, will) be enforced by the state. The appellate court did not weigh in on the merits of the case. They said that there is not sufficient harm to require an injunction and then kicked it back to the lower court for trial.
And around we go.
The granting (or not) of injunctions is sometimes written of as a bellwether for the outcome of the trial. If a judge grants an injunction, it seems to show that he or she feels that outcome of the trial would be to strike down the law.
By that metric, I think we can read the tea leaves here. I bet that the first judge strikes the law, it gets appealed and the appellate court reverses the lower court.
All of this to say that the fight over the 21 and older law is nowhere near done. If you are younger than 21 and live in Colorado, I'm sorry. Wish the outcome were different, but that's what happens when you live in a state popular with so many progressives.
I will update as I hear more but expect that to be in dribs and drabs. This appellate ruling, remember, took from August to November of the next year.
One last thing. Do you know what court fights take BESIDES time? Money. If you feel moved to, support the effort to defend your Second Amendment rights by contributing to Rocky Mountain Gun Owners. They are leading the fight here and need your financial support to help them continue.
*Remember that temporary injunctions are just that. It's not that the law was fully struck down, this ruling said that the threat to individual rights was grave enough that there should be no enforcement of the law until a full hearing could take place.
**Maybe it's just me and faulty memory, but it sure feels like anymore the press include who nominated the judge when talking about rulings. Tacit recognition that ideology of the judge matters, that just as often as not what we're doing is getting opinions and not (as is so often stated), following the law. This labeling is also relatively new. I myself am old enough to remember that the media didn't seem to ever note the ideological lean of the judges. Well, they didn't til conservative judges put out conservative rulings that is.
https://coloradosun.com/2023/08/07/colorado-age-limit-gun-law-federal-court-ruling/
https://coloradosun.com/2024/11/05/colorado-gun-law-21-10th-circuit/
Colorado Wolf Tracker Facebook
I posted yesterday about staying on top of CPW meetings and about how the fight over big cat hunting has just been moved rather than ended with the defeat of Prop 127.
A reader contacted me and told me about a Facebook group Colorado Wolf Tracker which covers a lot about wolves and also how to keep tabs on and testify at CPW meetings.
The link to the page is below. If this topic (CPW, Wolves, Hunting) is a passion, consider signing on to their group so you can stay abreast of the news in this area.
I myself signed on and will be watching/sharing.
And speaking of sharing, one of the admins of the site, John Williams, shared what you will see in the second link below with me. It's a one-pager on how to listen in on the CPW meeting which happens today and tomorrow.
At this point it's too late to sign in to testify, but be watching my page for a How-To on signing up to testify. In particular, on how to sign up to testify from any touch tone phone (for those of us without smart phones or time to attend in person).
https://www.facebook.com/groups/306944548990889/
https://cpw.widen.net/view/pdf/bpxogzmlth/WildlifeCommission-Nov-Notice-2024.pdf?u=xyuvvu
Joined wolf tracker group, thank you