Beauprez’s anti-gun past may come to haunt him

When asked about the Second Amendment, Bob Beauprez has a tendency of only talking about Governor John Hickenlooper’s policies.

So what about Bob?

A mere 14 years ago, Beauprez and and former Governor Bill Ritter were on the Amendment 22 band

Bob Beauprez flip-flops on 2nd Amendment.

wagon, which was a state-wide referendum calling for special restrictions for gun shows. These included an instant background check for certain sales that take place at a gun show, even if not required had the same sale occurred not at the gun show.

Amendment 22 passed with 70 percent of the vote.

During the 2006 contest between Beauprez and Ritter; Beauprez claimed Ritter loved gun control, whereas he supported the Second Amendment. This claim was the basis of one of the Both-ways-Bob ads which mocked Beauprez for flip-flopping on the Second Amendment.

The Independence Institute defended Beauprez’s mistake, by claiming the error was due to poor journalism by the Denver Post.

However, going back a bit further, when Beauprez was Colorado Republican State Chairman, he sent out a letter to GOP legislators calling for the party uniting on new gun control laws in the aftermath of the Columbine Shooting.

At the time, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners responded to the message by saying, “Gun rights supporters are told, in essence, to sit down, shut up, and take their medicine.”

Beauprez constantly called for closing the “loopholes in our gun laws.” The Owens Administration, working with Chairman Beauprez, crafted legislation to reign-in gun shows, proposed mandatory gun locks, and moved to disarm Coloradoans between the ages of 18 and 21.

Even Congressman Tom Tancredo voted for an assault weapons ban and a ban on magazines, along with making a few incriminating statements after the school shooting.  

The strategy, in the wake of Columbine, was to compromise a little on gun control, in order to maintain control of all three branches of state government. The results of the 2000 General Election saw the Republicans lose the State Senate to the Democrats.

The question now turns, has Beauprez become a hard-line Second Amendment kind of guy?

Recently, the question of gun control arose during an Aspen gathering. Aspen is not necessarily the friendliest of towns for gun advocates. Beauprez, playing to the audience said, if elected, and if a (gun control) repeal comes to me, I’d sign it.

Beauprez further stated that people with mental illnesses shouldn’t have easy access to guns.

Sounds a bit like the old Beauprez?

Perhaps compromising on some aspects makes political sense in some areas of strategy, but once you go down the road of giving an inch, before you know it, you’ve given a mile.

To be fair to Beauprez, he has claimed that a propensity to commit crime must be an element of limiting the Constitutional rights of someone who is mentally ill.

If society knew who had a propensity to commit a crime before a crime occurred, then why wouldn’t we create a pre-crimes police force, as illustrated in the film Minority Report to stop all evils before they occur?

Beauprez has also failed to define who would be legally classified as mentally ill? Does one visit to a psychologist mean a citizen could be pre-empted from their Second Amendment rights?

Prior to endorsing Beauprez this week, State Senator Greg Brophy, had declared both Beauprez and Tancredo weak on the Second Amendment. Yet in his endorsement, Brophy steered clear of gun talk, saying Beauprez had the best odds of winning.

Perhaps being soft on the Second Amendment is the key to winning the even-split urban-7th Congressional District twice, but for voters in rural Colorado the difference between the incumbent and Beauprez regarding gun control is a shady haze of grey.

All hope is not lost.

Republicans Mike Kopp and Scott Gessler, both have served America in the Army and both believe the Second Amendment is a right not to be compromised.

The Rocky Mountain Gun Owners feels the same way and has given Kopp and Gessler the two-thumbs-up.

Defeating Hickenlooper will be tough, but victory only comes if there is a candidate who can draw distinctions, not blur the differences over key policy issues, such as the Second Amendment. 

___________________

Matthew Soper, Letter to the Editor, Beauprez’s past may come back to haunt him, Delta County Independent, May 21, 2014, at A2.

Matthew Soper, Letter to the Editor, Beauprez evaluated on the Second Amendment, Gunnison Country Times, May 21, 2014, at A14.

Colorado politics: The GOP is lining up a royal flush, will the Dems bluff or fold?

Duncan McArthur, the Treasurer of the Mesa County Republican Party has joined the race to replace Colorado State Representative Steve King (R-HD 54). I have been sought out to give advice to several potential candidates and took the approach of saying: Don't ignore Delta County and remember we are part of HD 54 and have a weight which is a significant element to the race.

Bob Hislop and Ray Scott are the other two candidates running for HD 54. Bob is retired from the secret service and from being a VP at Paul Mitchell. Ray owns a local gas products company. Bob is fairly new to Grand Junction and Ray is a long time resident, neither have much name recognition in the party at a local or state level. Rep. Steve King is staying neutral. Rep. Laura Bradford (R-HD 55) will more than likely endorse Duncan McArthur. Hislop and Scott both have excellent opportunities for capitalizing on a message of change and being novices to the political game.

Wanye Wolf running is noble, but he should recognize that hell will freeze over before he would defeat Sen. Gail Schwartz (D-SD 5). I was offered the opportunity to manage Bob Rankin's campaign against Gail Schwartz, as he has an arsenal which quite possibly could sink the Schwartz re-election ship. All I can say on this point is stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed.

Scott Tipon running against John Salazar again is also a noble ambition, but one which if he loses could more than likely end his political career, though if successful, he would be powerful player in Washington's freshman class based on the anecdote alone. I see what Scott is thinking. Ritter is very much dead in the water come Nov. 2010, the Dems are going to be fighting major Republican challengers at many levels, so the logic is that the Dems will fund the most important races and let John Salazar go if need be. My thought is that a congressman with a brother in the Federal Cabinet is not going to be hung out to dry.

This is a very exciting season for Colorado politics: Josh Penry and Scott McInnis running to challenge Gov. Ritter. Jane Norton running to challenge US Sen. Mike Bennet (Bennett has his own challenger in Andrew Romanoff - do I dare say Go Andy!). The awesome Scott Gessler taking on Sec. of State Bernie Buescher. J.J. Ament and Walker Stapleton are challenging each other to then run against State Treas. Cary Kennedy. Ryan Frazier is now challenging US Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-7th CD - Bob Beauprez's fmr seat) - Frazier has a really good chance to beat Perlmutter, especially since Perlmutter is going through a nasty divorce. I would love to see Scott Tipton replace John Salazar and to have Don Coram as the State Representative from HD 58. With all of these terrific candidates we can expect to see Obama visit Colorado often during the campaign season, as the worst thing for him would be to have major losses for the Dems out of Colorado - the state that coronated Obama - the world's messiah - grr.. Hopefully Josh or Scott will have long coat tails and will help fellow Republicans down the ticket.

My day will come to run for public office, but for now finishing my law degree, passing the bar exam and establishing my professional qualifications for running are very important to me. By the way, I won my first moot court trial today!!! The preparation alone took about 60 hours last week and my notes look like a mini book, but defeating the girl from Harvard - priceless!!!