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. 

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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.

Mike Kopp is a perfect fit for Colorado

Mike Kopp, candidate for governor, has my endorsement. Here's why — Kopp specifically came to Delta County to announce his candidacy last October. He'll be back in Delta tomorrow hosting a meet and greet for all who'd like to visit with him. More than just caring about Delta County, Mike Kopp knows rural Colorado.

At a young age, Kopp was a championship bull rider. How many leaders have actually taken a "bull by the horns?" — Kopp has! He grew-up on his family's ranch in South Dakota before joining the U.S. Army. In the military, Kopp once again demonstrated his fearlessness and was selected to be an Army Ranger in the 82nd Airborne Division. Kopp served on the ground in Iraq during the Persian Gulf War and was highly decorated for his gallantry and acts of valor.

Kopp then worked as a "smoke jumper" throughout the American West, fighting a different enemy — wildfires. During the non-fire season, Kopp was a U.S. Border Patrol agent helping to keep illegals out of the U.S.

Colo GOP Governor Candidate Mike Kopp

Through all this "toughness" Mike Kopp has a heart of gold and became an ordained minister. He's worked as a chaplain helping those with mental health concerns and spiritual needs. Kopp ultimately needed his own help when his wife lost her battle with cancer in 2011. He had just been re-elected to the State Senate and named minority leader. Kopp opted to step down from public life to be with his three young children in their time of need.

Kopp is currently part of the management team for Intermountain Rural Electric Association, Colorado's national Republican committeeman and a loving father (who has recently remarried).

From a policy perspective, Kopp is very conservative, having been the original author of the state's opt-out plan regarding the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"). Kopp has been endorsed by the Rocky Mountain Gun Owner's Association, and from having been around him, I can tell you, he is the responsible type who takes firearm ownership seriously. Additionally, Kopp was the last legislator who proposed serious tax cuts and reductions in the size of government. Since Kopp left the legislature, spending has continually increased and the number of legislators with ranching, military, or business experience has shrunk to countable on one hand.

Mike Kopp is a perfect fit for Colorado and I am pleased to be supporting his candidacy for governor.

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M. Soper, "Candidate Mike Kopp is a perfect fit for Colorado" 26 Feb 2014 Delta County Independent (Delta, Colo) p.2A  http://deltacountyindependent.com/index.php/opinion/soapbox/10352-candidate-mike-kopp-is-a-perfect-fit-for-colorado accessed 18 March 2014

Hickenlooper signs Syrian-style-gun-control measures

With Governor Hickenlooper's signature to HB 1224 and HB 1229 it looks like indeed the pen is mightier
than the sword/gun. The government now has the carte blanche ability to restrict any firearm which uses a magazine (this is due in part to the hastily drafted language in the bill). This is an assault on all of Colorado, our state and national constitutions, and natural law. Our peaceful protests in halls of power have been ignored. It is time the people stand up to the grievous and al-Assad-like assaults on our liberties!

As in the pre-Arab-Spring-era, the unchecked power of the Syrian Ba’ath Party also stripped their citizens of firearms. Syrian Legislative Decree No. 51 of 23 September 2001 banned private ownership of semi-automatic military looking rifles, revoking rifle permits, and only allowing permits for single shot-pistols and single-shot hunting rifles of low-calibre. Currently the people of Syria are in a bloody civil war in which the government of Bashar al-Assad is trying to quell resistance to the majority elected, single party rule.

In the Democratic controlled legislature, Colorado – like Syria – passed universal background checks, which require background checks of the possessor of a firearm when the owner is away for more than 72 hours. Along with blurring the lines of possession and ownership, the legislature completely ignored the vast majority of Colorado’s sheriffs, including Delta County’s own Fred McKee, who testified in Denver against HB 1229. With the new legislation in Colorado, as in Syria, private sales of firearms will be essentially prohibited.

The Democrats won’t achieve universal registration, universal licencing, and third-party liability this legislative session, but given another future-mass-shooting somewhere in the nation, these Syrian policies can be expected if freedom minded legislators and governors are not elected.

No one party should ever control all three branches of government. Yet when the Democrats rolled into power they began catering to the whims of the masses which has resulted in short-sighted, rights-restricting, and oppressive policies. It is time to petition Governor Hickenlooper for a redress of these grievances and upon denial demonstrate that the people of rural Colorado will openly and respectfully defy these anti-constitutional gun control measures.
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*M Soper, LTE / OpEd, Mountain Valley News. 27 March 2013  http://www.mountainvalleynews.net/index.php/home/3-opinion/3910-letters-to-the-editor-32713.html accessed 27 March 2013

Safety: The fallacy of 'anti-guns proponents'

The post-Aurora shooting has seen Americans re-engage the debate over small-fire arm regulation. On 25 July 2012, President Barak Obama called for “leaving no stone unturned” in seeking measures to reduce violence in America. Mr Obama’s speech to the National Urban League in New Orleans featured a shift in the president’s policy position that gun laws in the US are sufficient.

Mr Obama said, “A lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals […] But I also believe that the majority of gun owners would agree that we should do everything possible to prevent criminals and fugitives from purchasing weapons, that we should check someone’s criminal record before they can [purchase a gun], that a mentally unbalanced individual should not be able to get his hands on a gun so easily. These steps shouldn’t be controversial, they should be common sense.”

Around 0038Z on 20 July 2012, at the Century-16 Multiplex Cinema in Aurora, Colorado, suspect James Eagan Holmes walks into cinema No. 9 wearing Kevlar body-armour and a gas mask, with a black costume to resemble comic superhero Batman’s arch nemesis. The film had been playing for half an hour before the suspect began shooting into crowd, after having thrown a smoke bomb into the cinema. Within 90 seconds police were on the scene. The suspect had killed 12 and injured 58 people, before being apprehended by police in the car park. None of the people killed were members of a minority group. Leaked reports show the accused was being treated for psychiatric care after having dropped out of the University of Colorado Medical School. The suspect had no previous medical condition or any confrontations with law enforcement, including moving-traffic violations.

 shooting a Thompson M1928A1

Contrary to the President’s thesis, the accused in the Aurora shooting had no criminal record, didn’t use an AK-47, and the leaked counselling reports indicate he was not “mentally unbalanced”. Seeing a psychologist or councillor is not an admittance of being “mentally unbalanced” and using such rhetorical comparisons is prejudicial and sends a negative message to those individuals in society who really do need professional help.

According to a Harvard Law research paper, nations with the highest small-arms regulations are not always the safest or less violent. The most-pro regulation nations include: Colombia, Somalia, Japan and Sweden.

The day before Mr Obama’s speech, a court in Sweden convicted a man on two counts of murder and four attempted counts for a shooting which took place in Malmo. The accused ignored the prohibition on firearms and had been linked to a dozen street shootings over the past two years. Somalia has a major problem with gun violence, even though the official government position is to ban firearms. Some scholars have implicitly suggested a low fire arm ownership rate gave rise to al Shabaab and piracy, which in-turn gave rise to high levels of illegal gun ownership. Colombia is a nation well known for gun violence, however much of this comes from drug cartels who target unarmed civilians. The UNODC reports Colombian illegal small-arms ownership is at an all-time high, which many citizens opting for a means to protection. Criminals seem to have a propensity to ignore the rule of law. By definition, a person is a criminal if they disobey the law established by the recognized government authority. Even Japan has its share of gun crime, most will recall the assassination of the mayor of Nagasaki in 2007, a pensioner going on a shooting spree in 2009, and organized gangs who annually shot members of the opposing mafia.

There is no research which shows taking away guns makes a society safer, less violent, or secure. People intent on doing harm, will do harm. Look at 9-11, why didn't we ban air planes, or make private ownership illegal? I don't recall a single gun being used on that day, yet nearly 3,000 people lost their lives.

The UK, which has pretty much banned guns (unless you own land and a title) still has gun violence, albeit not as high per capita as the US, but knife and bombing violence are way higher per capita in the UK. Stopping all bad people in society takes the rest of society to be vigilant, sense when folks need help, or being prepared to fire back when evil attempts to prevail - that includes both criminals and the government.

Research conducted by Oxford University reveals correlations between the type of homicide and the socioeconomic and subcultural status of the victim and offender. More research needs to be conducted into this area, as it is a highly charged hypothesis to suggest a person who feels poor, socially rejected, or outside their culture is more likely to commit an offence of the person resulting in a fatality. Mass murders in OEDC states see offenders who isolate themselves from their society.

Nations with strict firearm regulations don’t necessarily have lower homicide rates. Switzerland, which has 
one of the world’s highest firearm ownership rates (2/3 of every home has at least one firearm), also has one of the lowest overall homicide ratios at 1 > per 100,000. The US, which has a similar gun ownership rate as Switzerland, has a much higher overall homicide rate of 4.5 per 100,000. Larger nations tend to have different social problems, but also Switzerland requires a large percentage of its male population to have spent a year in the military, in addition to this, much of the nation is fairly rural and research has shown murder rates are much lower in rural environments. (See UNODC homicide statistics)

A paper looking at the urban v rural divide for gun violence in and around Washington, D.C. shows that nearly 70% of all gun deaths in both areas were suicides, which are illegal in the US. It should be noted, rural suicides by guns were 10% higher in the countryside, suggesting an opportunity for medical professionals and educators to develop mechanisms for intervening. While the likelihood of being murdered in an urban area of Washington, D.C. was 50% greater, when compared rural areas. When examining other parts of the US, the gap between urban murders and rural murders was well over two-fold. Accidental shootings with a rifle or shotgun were greater (3% of total) in rural areas, accidental shootings with handguns where significantly higher in urban centres. Homicides are greater when the offender was drinking or doing drugs, vulnerable, depressed, and subject to violence or mental abuse.

Recently, Elliot Fladen with the Colorado Springs Gazette made the comparison with the war on drugs resembling the war on guns. His conclusion is that just as anti-drug laws didn’t prevent drug dealers, users, or abusers; gun control laws won’t stop black market dealers, offenders, or individual’s intent on doing harm.

Many conclusions may be reached from noting statistics and arguments from the post-Aurora shooting debate, but one point is certain – more gun regulations and laws is not the answer to America’s struggle to interdict violent criminals. 

A Conversation with five Republican Governors

Not many Americans are privy to a conversation among five governors from across the United States, however on Thursday, 16 July 2010, I was a listening member of a discussion which was completely non-politically-correct, policy based, and void of stump speech rhetoric. The event hosted by the Aspen Institute and the Republican Governors Association, featured Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

The conversation came just hours after British Petroleum (BP) announced they had finally stopped the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Gov. Haley Barbour said the cap is only to be seen as a temporary fix and that a permanent solution is from the relief wells. All five governors agreed Pres. Obama’s ban on off-shore drilling was bad for the gulf state’s economies. Not only has the oil leak damaged the tourism, fishing, and related industries, but the ban on drilling has resulted in the laying off of thousands of workers employed by oil & gas companies. The analogy of ceasing all air travel following a major airplane crash was used to describe the logic behind the oil drilling ban.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry was dressed all in black with a t-shirt and a leather sports coat. The lettering on the t-shirt read, “Marshall Law”. Gov. Perry jokingly commented he didn’t think a shirt declaring succession would fly. Gov. Perry went on to say it was the name of a new band in Texas and that he was wanting to give them a little regional publicity as he is all about helping businesses succeed and become profitable. This allowed Gov. Perry to segue-way into talking about how competition and business are the driving forces of America.