The Assumption of the Left: Colorado’s Legislative Assault on Second Amendment Rights

On February 16, 2024, Nephi Cole, Rick Turnquist, Kevin Lundberg, Christina Goeke, and Christy Ruckus joined the show. Cole detailed multiple anti-Second Amendment bills flooding Colorado’s legislature, including assault weapon bans, firearm insurance requirements, and concealed carry restrictions that criminalize law-abiding citizens while ignoring actual criminals Turnquist explained why he monitors Colorado politics from Oklahoma, warning that radical left legislation represents a cancer that will spread nationally if.

Colorado’s Anti-Gun Legislative Blitz

Start listening at 15:18 – Hour 1

Nephi Cole, Director of Government Relations State Affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, breaks down the avalanche of anti-Second Amendment legislation flooding Colorado’s statehouse. House Bill 1292 seeks to ban modern sporting rifles by labeling them assault weapons, a term Cole calls intentionally ambiguous. House Bill 1270 would require firearm liability insurance that does not actually exist on the market, effectively creating a poll tax on constitutional rights. Cole emphasizes that these measures criminalize law-abiding gun owners while doing nothing to address actual criminals who ignore laws entirely.

The concealed carry permit changes in House Bill 1174 would require eight hours of mandatory training, adding cost and barriers for citizens seeking self-defense. Meanwhile, the legislature defeated meaningful penalties for firearm theft while maintaining criminal liability for owners who fail to report stolen guns. Cole urges citizens to contact their legislators directly, noting that phone calls carry more weight than written testimony.

“Any place that a criminal could carry a gun illegally, you should be able to carry one legally. Because signs, you know, telling somebody that a park is a sensitive space, that you can’t legally concealed carry in a park, that doesn’t stop a person who doesn’t care about the law from carrying.”

Nephi Cole, Director of Government Relations, NSSF

Radical Ideas Spread Like Cancer

Start listening at 30:16 – Hour 1

Rick Turnquist, author and former Colorado resident now living in Oklahoma, explains why he continues monitoring Colorado politics despite relocating. Representatives like Epps and Hernandez push legislation so far left they appear to operate from a different political universe entirely. Turnquist describes these radical proposals as a cancer that will spread to other states if left unchallenged. He contrasts Colorado’s dysfunction with Oklahoma’s functional Republican supermajority where disagreements remain civil and principled.

The proper role of government, Turnquist argues, does not include legislating morality or expanding state control over citizens’ lives. The 503 bills introduced this session represent an irresponsible burden that prevents meaningful review of legislation that will become law over Coloradans’ lives. Turnquist remains engaged because his friends and family still live in his native state, and because Colorado serves as a testing ground for progressive policies that could spread nationally.

“These ideas that they’re spreading in the Gold Dome and that they’re perpetuating, whether they think they’re going to pass or not, whether they are constitutional or not, which most of them are, or whether they’re proper functions of government or not, which 99.9% of them are not. These ideas are like a cancer. And if you don’t fight cancer, it spreads.”

Rick Turnquist, Author

Citizen Testimony Suppressed at Statehouse

Start listening at 84:40 – Hour 2

Former State Senator Kevin Lundberg and citizen activist Christina Goeke expose the dysfunction plaguing legislative hearings. Goeke drove ninety minutes from Colorado Springs and waited seven hours to testify against House Bill 1071 concerning name changes for gender identity. Progressive committee members deliberately extended proceedings with irrelevant questions, hoping opponents would leave. Only two citizens showed up to oppose the bill while the room filled with supporters Goeke describes as the Rainbow Mafia.

Goeke’s testimony was gaveled down when she expressed her opinion, an action Lundberg calls despicable from his experience chairing committee hearings. Before testifying, activists attempted to have Goeke removed over an Instagram exchange. The Sergeant at Arms pulled her from the room over a social media comment while allowing progressive groups to openly break decorum rules. Lundberg emphasizes that Colorado needs a thousand citizens like Goeke willing to stand their ground with integrity.

“Anybody who’s listening to this, I don’t want you to think, well, I’m not going to try because it’s biased. No, you need to try because that’s the problem. We need more people to start standing up to these bullies. That’s the answer. You know, we have to stand up for what’s right.”

Christina Goeke, Rocky Mountain Women’s Network

Pueblo Flips Red After 80 Years

Start listening at 102:43 – Hour 2

Christy Ruckus, candidate for Republican National Committeewoman for Colorado, shares the remarkable transformation of Pueblo County. After more than 80 years of Democratic control, the Pueblo County Patriots grew from flag waves on corners to 3,000 members statewide. Their executive committee of former candidates understood exactly what campaigns needed. In November, they flipped nine of eleven seats and just weeks ago swore in their first Republican mayor.

Ruckus now seeks to bring that same energy to the national level, concerned that Colorado is not receiving its fair share of RNC funding as a battleground state. A proposed rule change at the RNC winter meeting would extend current committee terms until after the 2024 election and inauguration, delaying newly elected members from taking their seats. Ruckus, a Colorado native who grew up in Arapahoe County and now homeschools her six-year-old daughter, wants to restore the Colorado she remembers.

“If we can turn things around in Pueblo County after 80 years of Democratic rule, I just want other people to know that in their counties, they can also do the same thing.”

Christy Ruckus, Candidate for RNC Committeewoman