Proper Training Creates Respect for Firearms as Second Amendment Foundation

Kim Monson welcomed three guests to explore constitutional rights, electoral integrity, and environmental discourse on this Thursday broadcast. Nephi Cole of the National Shooting Sports Foundation made his debut as a show sponsor representative discussing the foundational importance of the Second Amendment, while Colorado GOP Vice Chair Hope Scheppelman urged central committee members to opt out of open primaries, and marketing strategist Dave O’Rourke promoted the Colorado premiere of the documentary A Climate Conversation.

Colorado GOP Fights to Close Primary Elections

Start listening at 18:33 – Hour 1

Hope Scheppelman, Colorado State GOP Vice Chair, presents the case for opting out of open primaries at Saturday’s central committee vote. She reads from a Durango Herald letter to the editor that explicitly encouraged Democrats to change their registration to unaffiliated to vote against Lauren Boebert in Republican primaries, demonstrating how open primaries enable opposition party manipulation of candidate selection.

Scheppelman reports that her personal survey of 500 unaffiliated voters in La Plata County found 95 percent would still vote conservative in general elections, suggesting the opt-out would not disenfranchise genuine conservative independents. She traces the 2016 open primary ballot initiative back to Kent Thiry, former head of DaVita, who contributed over $2.5 million of the $5 million spent promoting it. The temporary two-year opt-out represents an opportunity for Republicans to regain control of their candidate selection process.

“95 percent, I’m going to say that again, 95 percent of those unaffiliated voters that I spoke to here in La Plata County stated that they would vote still conservative in the general. So everybody is saying, hey, they’re going to disenfranchise the unaffiliated voters. That is incorrect.”

Hope Scheppelman, Colorado State GOP Vice Chair

Second Amendment Rights and the Foundation of Liberty

Start listening at 34:26 – Hour 1

Nephi Cole, Director of Government Affairs and State Relations for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, explains how the Second Amendment recognized rather than created the right to bear arms. Cole emphasizes that the founders viewed self-defense as a God-given natural right that government was explicitly forbidden from infringing. The NSSF represents 9,000 companies manufacturing, distributing, and selling firearms and related accessories.

Cole draws on the Bruen Supreme Court case to illustrate how weapons have always served as equalizers throughout human history. He notes that the founders intended average citizens to possess arms comparable to military forces, ensuring equality against potential government overreach. The discussion turns to New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s attempt to strip citizens of Second Amendment rights through an executive order declaring gun crime a public health emergency, which courts immediately struck down.

“The Second Amendment specifically says that for the security of a free state, it says the right to keep and bear arms, this is the individual right to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. So what does that mean? The right already existed. They called it a God-given right or a natural right.”

Nephi Cole, Director of Government Affairs, National Shooting Sports Foundation

Climate Documentary Seeks Common Ground Over Conflict

Start listening at 59:50 – Hour 2

Dave O’Rourke flew in from Marin County, California, to promote the Colorado premiere of A Climate Conversation at Rockley’s Event Center. The documentary, created by geophysicist Walt Johnson and directed by Colton Moyer, aims to foster productive dialogue rather than political warfare over environmental policy. O’Rourke has watched the film nine times and praises its Socratic approach to engaging scientists from across the ideological spectrum.

The film features panelists including Gregory Wrightstone of the CO2 Coalition, author of Inconvenient Facts responding to Al Gore’s claims, economist King Gregory from Canada who calculated net zero costs, and Ron Stein who distinguishes between energy and electricity in fossil fuel debates. O’Rourke notes the film will debut on Newsmax October 14th, going wide in prime time. He emphasizes that human flourishing requires energy and that virtually every hospital product and modern material derives from fossil fuels or their energy.

“Climate change is real. People have a role in causing it. People will be the thing that solves it. But if we can’t bring it together and we can’t find the common ground, which there’s much more common ground than there is things that divide us. So it’s really a question, what are we going to do?”

Dave O’Rourke, Marketing Strategist, A Climate Conversation