Property Rights and Constitutional Freedoms Face Ballot Box Assault

On October 21, 2024, Coleen Orr, Nephi Cole, and Doug Groothuis joined the show. Hat maker Coleen Orr warns that Denver Ordinance 308’s fur ban would devastate small businesses, the Indian Market, and National Western Stock Show vendors while companion Ordinance 309 targets a 62-year-old lamb processing facility National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Nephi Cole exposes how Proposition KK’s firearm excise tax only burdens law-abiding.

Denver’s Fur Ban Threatens Local Businesses and Heritage

Start listening at 14:06 – Hour 1

Coleen Orr, a Denver hat maker whose livelihood depends on quality fur felt, sounds the alarm on Denver Ordinance 308, which would ban all fur sales within city limits. The measure, pushed by radical activists, fails to account for the environmental costs of synthetic alternatives and threatens to displace the Indian Market, the National Western Stock Show vendors, and countless small businesses that rely on natural materials.

Orr explains that rabbit fur used in quality hats comes as a byproduct of the European food industry, making efficient use of existing resources. Beaver fur, from a non-endangered species requiring population management, provides superior durability that synthetic materials cannot match. The companion Ordinance 309 would shutter Superior Farm, a lamb processing facility operating since 1962, citing climate change as justification for eliminating an employee-owned business.

“But if we don’t fight them, we have had to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxed money to try to defeat these people for these issues. They’re just going to try to take over even more and then try to take the whole state.”

Coleen Orr, Hat Maker

Firearm Excise Tax Targets Law-Abiding Citizens

Start listening at 30:12 – Hour 1

Nephi Cole, Director of State Affairs and Government Relations for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, breaks down Proposition KK’s 6.5% excise tax on firearms and ammunition. The legislature, unable to pass the measure through normal channels, sent it directly to voters, betting that pro-gun citizens will stay home on election day.

Cole dismantles the initiative’s claim that taxing legal gun purchases will reduce domestic violence. Felons and domestic abusers cannot legally purchase firearms and therefore never pay such taxes. The measure punishes law-abiding families who participate in shooting sports, hunters who fund wildlife conservation through license fees, and single mothers in dangerous neighborhoods who need protection.

The conversation also addresses Proposition 127, which would ban hunting of mountain lions and other large predators. Cole warns that removing this management tool from professional wildlife biologists would lead to uncontrolled predator populations, potentially endangering hikers and devastating prey animal populations.

“They’re trying to make it harder for people to exercise the right to keep and bear arms.”

Nephi Cole, National Shooting Sports Foundation

Reagan’s Legacy and the Battle for American Principles

Start listening at 66:51 – Hour 2

Doug Groothuis, Distinguished Professor at Cornerstone University and author of multiple books including Fire in the Streets, discusses the Reagan film as a portrait of principled leadership America desperately needs. Reagan’s confrontation with communism, his genuine Christian faith, and his refusal to appease the Soviet Union offer lessons for contemporary politics.

Groothuis traces his own political evolution, explaining how watching Reagan’s example transformed his thinking. The film accurately depicts Reagan’s strategy of “peace through strength” and his famous challenge to Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. Unlike detente’s nervous stalemate, Reagan pursued victory, understanding that communist regimes respond only to strength.

The discussion expands to address modern threats from Russia, China, and Iran, and the importance of Christian education in preserving American values. Groothuis emphasizes that political renewal requires more than electing the right candidates, calling for personal prayer, church courage, and systematic teaching of America’s founding principles.

“And one of the things I really love about Reagan, besides his principles and his Christian faith, is that he was very affable and had a tremendous sense of humor.”

Doug Groothuis, Cornerstone University