Colorado

For First Time, A Colorado Judge Denies Confiscation Request Under Red Flag Law

For the first time, a judge has denied a request to take away a man’s guns under Colorado’s new red flag law. A Limon woman claimed a man who she had a relationship with threatened her with a gun and filed the request. Since the law took effect, the red flag law has had many gun owners seeing red. At least four requests have been filed since the first of 2020; CBS4 is aware of them being filed in Denver, in Larimer County and this one — in Lincoln County. Many gun owners, like Jak Gruenberg, despise it. “Red flag laws just allow for harassment of legal gun owners,” he said. The law allows guns to be taken away from those who present a danger to themselves or others. The decision is up to a judge. A woman wrote she was getting “verbal and physical threats” with a handgun from the man identified in the order. She said he had a problem with alcohol and marijuana. The judge denied the request to take his guns. “I think it’s a good thing. I think any other new law you’re going to have a lot of case law to determine exactly where the lines are,” said Gruenberg, a gun owner not associated with the case. Lincoln County is one of the many counties that has indicated it would not honor the red flag law.

This so-called “red flag law” in Colorado (and in other states) is brazenly unconstitutional on its face.  And, the fact that some local judge can arbitrarily make the decision as to whether or not they’ll sign an order to remove someone’s guns without due process should have every law-abiding gun owner in Colorado (and other states that have similar laws) terrified.  Anybody can just go into a police station and say, “so and so scares me and I think he should have his guns taken away,” and then it goes to some local judge who makes the arbitrary decision.  Crazy!!  This is the kinda crap that happens when Democrats are in power.  The raise your taxes, increase the size and scope of government, and take away your freedoms.  Unreal…

Colorado Allows Transgender Residents ‘New’ Birth Certificate, No Surgery Required

Colorado residents who claim to be transgender or “non-binary” can now obtain a “new” birth certificate with a name and gender change, without any proof of sex-change surgery, according to a new state law. As of January 1, “Jude’s Law” (HB19-1039) went into effect, named after 13-year-old “Jude,” a biological male, who told Fox 31 Denver he went to the vital records office on January 2 to “get my gender and name changed on my birth certificate.” “I think a lot of us have lived as someone that we’re not,” Jude said. “And we’ve been identifying by something that wasn’t who we are. And for me, that brought a really dark place—a lot of self-hate.” “I got my old birth certificate and I ripped it,” Jude added. “It was kind of a nice little closure to say, ‘I’m done with you. It’s over.’” According to Fox 31, LGBTQ lobbying group One Colorado co-wrote Jude’s Law and Democrat Gov. Jared Polis signed it into law. “A transgender or non-binary person can access any state identity document—a birth certificate, a driver’s license, a state ID without a cumbersome process, like needing a surgery, a court order, or a doctor’s note,” said Daniel Ramos, executive director of One Colorado. Jude said he has identified as a female since 2015 and began working with One Colorado and testifying in favor of the bill when he was only nine years old. Fox 31 interviewed Jude’s mother as well: “The first time she testified, she was little with curls. Remember? You had your little flower dress on,” said Jude’s mother, Jenna, smiling as she looked over at Jude. “And she’s just come so far. To be able to say that my child is fighting for other people’s human rights—that’s pretty cool, especially when she’s just 13 years old,” Jenna added. Jude is currently working with Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) to make Jude’s Law a federal law. “And I think that will be my next step,” Jude said. In November 2018, Colorado also implemented a policy that allowed state residents to select “X” as their gender, rather than “male” or “female,” on driver licenses.

No, you’re not dreaming (or having a nightmare)…and no, this isn’t The Onion.  This insanity is actually law here in Colorado.  Be afraid.  This is the kinda crap that happens when we have Democrats in power.  Instead of focusing their energies on things that actually matter (and affect ALL of us, regardless of gender or political party affiliation) like roads and infrastructure, gang violence, and so on..  What do Dems at the statehouse in Denver spend their time, energy and OUR tax dollars on?  This crap; pandering to the less than 5% of the population that has identity issues.  Unreal…

Anti-ICE protesters pull down American flag, raise Mexico flag, vandalize ‘Blue Lives Matter’ flag

Authorities in Colorado restored an American flag to its place Friday evening after protesters demonstrating outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility pulled down the star-spangled banner and flew the flag of Mexico in its place. The protesters also removed a “Blue Lives Matter” flag, honoring law enforcement, spray-painted it with the words “Abolish ICE,” then raised the flag upside-down, on a pole next to the Mexican flag, according to local media. Hundreds of protesters had gathered in Aurora, Colo., outside the federal facility that holds illegal immigrants, to protest ICE raids scheduled to begin Sunday in Denver and other major U.S. cities, FOX 31 Denver reported. Aurora police Chief Nick Metz said the majority of protesters remained peaceful and some even thanked officers for their evening efforts. The protest, part of a network of #LightsForLiberty events, also dubbed the “March to Close Concentration Camps,” called for detention centers at the U.S.-Mexico border to be closed and for all immigrants being held in those locations to be granted entry to the U.S., according to the event’s Facebook page. Beginning Sunday, ICE agents will reportedly work to round up thousands of illegal immigrants across the U.S. President Trump delayed the operation by two weeks to allow Dems to propose a bipartisan solution to the humanitarian crisis at the border.

..which of course, didn’t happen.  Gee..what a shocker.  To see some videos of this  event, and read the rest of the article, click on the text above.

Christian Student Group Wins Lawsuit with University of Colorado

The University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS) has settled a lawsuit with a Christian student group which forces the university to recognize the group as an official student organization. Breitbart News reported in February that a Christian student group at UCCS had filed a lawsuit against their university over its refusal to recognize them as an official student organization. This week, UCCS settled with the Ratio Christi student group. The original legal complaint against the university claimed that administrators told students that they could not require their group leader to be a Christian. “It has refused to do so specifically because this religious organization seeks to ensure that its leaders share its beliefs and that its members support its mission, even though other student organizations do the same,” the complaint read. According to a report from The College Fix, Ratio Christi settled with UCCS. As a result of the settlement, the University of Colorado will be forced to recognize the group as an official student organization. Additionally, the students will now be permitted to choose their own leaders. Alliance for Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Travis Barham said that he is pleased with the outcome of the settlement. Barham claims that the settlement included an admission by the university that they failed to uphold the students’ right to free association. “It would be absurd for the university to require the vegan student group to appoint a meat-lover as its president,” Barham said. “Thankfully, the university has acknowledged its error and announced a policy that respects students’ rights to free association, no longer forcing Christian students to let atheists or other non-Christians to lead their Bible studies in order to become a registered club.”

Congrats to Ratio Christi for taking on the bully’s at UCCS in court…and winning!  Outstanding!!  🙂

Students Walk Out When Colorado School Shooting Vigil Turns into Gun Control Rally

Hundreds of Colorado’s STEM School Highlands Ranch walked out of the vigil for Tuesday’s shooting victims citing gun control politicization. The Federalist reported: “Colorado students walked out of an event billed as a vigil for Kendrick Castillo, an 18-year-old killed in a shooting at his school on Tuesday, when prominent speakers attempted to turn it into a rally for gun control. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) and Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colorado) each took a turn calling for gun control at the Douglas County event before students streamed out in protest.” Although the event was advertised as a vigil for Castillo, it was “sponsored by the gun control groups Brady’s Team Enough and March for Our Lives.” USA Today reported that “hundreds of students from the STEM School stormed out.” And while leaving they yelled, “This is not for us,” “Political stunt,” and “We are people, not a statement.” Breitbart News spoke to Andrew Pollack, father of Parkland school victim Meadow Pollack. We asked what he thought of the students’ decision to march out once the vigil turned into a gun control rally. He said, “I praise good parenting.”

Exactly!!  Kudos to those kids for standing up to these Democrat gun-control nazis like Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), and giving them the finger for politicizing such an event for their own self-serving, anti-gun, agenda.  Outstanding!

Colorado enacts ‘red flag’ law to seize guns from those deemed dangerous, prompting backlash

Colorado became the 15th state on Friday to adopt a “red flag” gun law, allowing firearms to be seized from people determined to pose a danger — just weeks after dozens of county sheriffs had vowed not to enforce the law, with some local leaders establishing what they called Second Amendment “sanctuary counties.” The law didn’t receive a single Republican vote in the state legislature, and has led to renewed efforts from gun-rights activists to recall Democrats who supported the measure. In a fiery and lengthy statement on Facebook on Friday, Eagle County, Colo., Sheriff James van Beek slammed the law as a well-intentioned but “ludicrous” throwback to the 2002 film “Minority Report,” and outlined a slew of objections from law enforcement. Van Beek charged that the law treats accused gun owners like “criminals,” discourages individuals from seeking mental health treatment, and ignores the reality that “a disturbed mind will not be deterred by the removal of their guns.” Noting that cities with strict gun laws still experience high murder rates, van Beek asserted: “By removing guns from someone intent on committing suicide or murder, we still have the danger of someone who may be unbalanced, now, angrier than before, and looking for another means … explosives, poisons, knives, car incidents of mowing down groups of unsuspecting innocent.” Colorado’s law, approved by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, allows family, household members or law enforcement to petition a court to have guns seized or surrendered based on a showing that someone poses a danger under the “preponderance of the evidence,” a civil standard which means that the defendant is more likely than not to be a threat. “In other words, there is just over a 50/50 chance of accuracy,” van Beek wrote, noting that someone’s guns could be seized even without a mental health professional making a determination of any kind. “Like the flip of a coin. Couldn’t that apply to just about anything a person does?” A subsequent court hearing could extend a gun seizure up to 364 days, and gun owners can only retain their guns if they meet a burden of demonstrating by “clear and convincing evidence” — a much higher standard — that they are not in fact a threat. Gun owners, van Beek said, are “guilty until proven innocent” under this framework. Minority Republicans in the legislature had unsuccessfully tried to shift the burden of proof to the petitioner.

…which, of course, is how it oughtta be.  This new law is brazenly unconstitutional.  Anyone charged under this is guilty until proven innocent, which is totally contrary to how our criminal justice system operates.  It is pure fascism.  When Hitler rose to power in the late ’30s in Germany, one of the first things he did was enact gun confiscation of citizens.  This “red flag” law is simply another form of anti-2nd Amendment, unconstitutional, gun confiscation that has NOTHING to do with metal health issues.  That’s all a phony front and a false pretense, and the Dems in Denver know this.  Some enterprising journalist oughtta ask Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) how it feels being a Nazi.  Yeah.. that term is perfectly, an historically, accurate used in this sense.  Jared Polis is acting like Colorado’s Hitler.  I double-dog dare ANY member of the dominantly liberal mainstream media to actually do their job, and ask that fascist tool that question on camera.  Wouldn’t it be rich to see his pompous ass try to tap dance around that?  If you’re here in Colorado and want to buy gun, ya better get out there and do so now, while ya still can..and buy things like ammo in cash ONLY.  Kudos to Sheriff James van Beek, and other sheriffs in Colorado, who refuse to enforce this fascist nonsense.  For more, click on the text above.

Recall redux: Jared Polis, Colorado Democrats hit with voter revolt over leftist agenda

The last time Colorado Democrats held the governor’s office and both legislative houses, the party’s aggressive progressive agenda on gun control touched off a voter revolt that culminated in the recalls of two state senators. Six years later, history may be poised to repeat itself, writ large. Campaigns are underway to recall vulnerable Democratic state legislators — and even Democratic Gov. Jared Polis — as is a petition-gathering drive to repeal the National Popular Vote bill signed into law last month by the newly elected governor. What’s different this time is that the unrest includes but isn’t limited to gun control. In addition to the National Popular Vote, the uprising has been fueled by the Democratic crackdown on the oil-and-gas industry; a red-flag firearms measure, and an LGBT sex-education bill that would eliminate charter-school opt-outs. “You could wrap it all around the banner of Democratic overreach,” said GOP political strategist Joe Neville, brother of Senate Minority Leader Patrick Neville, who’s working on the legislative recalls. The Legislature is still in session, but already petitions have been approved to gather signatures for the recall of Democratic state Rep. Rochelle Galindo, who voted to enact tough restrictions on energy with SB 181, despite representing Weld County, the state’s top producer of oil and gas. Mr. Neville said more recall campaigns aimed at House Democrats are brewing. Already circulating are petitions to repeal the National Popular Vote compact, which saw Colorado agree to cast its Electoral College votes for the winner of the popular vote in presidential elections no matter which candidates the voters support. The measure would not take effect until states with a combined 270 electoral votes sign on to the compact — so far 14 states and the District of Columbia have signed on for a total of 189 electoral votes — but the compact has touched off a grassroots uprising in Colorado. “It has been amazing,” said Mesa County Commissioner Rose Pugliese, who leads the anti-NPV referendum drive. “The amount of people who have come out, who want to circulate petitions, signing petitions, wanting to donate to our cause, has been just overwhelming. They’re pretty fired up. They want to be engaged on this issue.” Already, it feels like a redux of 2013, when voters rebelled after then-Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper signed a rash of gun-control bills pushed by New York City billionaire Michael Bloomberg, despite thousands who turned up at the state capitol to protest and testify against the legislation. Voters recalled two Democrats — Senate President John Morse in Colorado Springs and state Sen. Angela Giron in Pueblo — and replaced them with Republicans. A year later, the Republicans were defeated by Democratic challengers, but the GOP held the state Senate until November’s blue wave swept Democratic majorities into both houses. What Democrats should have noticed, say Republicans, is that voters simultaneously defeated a slew of liberal ballot measures, including an anti-fracking measure, Proposition 112. “The message I think the Democratic Party should have received is that voters were placing trust in the Democrat Party to move at a moderate pace,” Rep. Ken Buck, the newly minted chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, told 9News in Denver “Instead, the Democrats have attacked the energy industry and have done other things with the popular vote, with gun legislation, that have offended a lot the people, unaffiliated voters and Republicans, who voted for them,” Mr. Buck said. “I think you see this frustration rising.” Democrats may have underestimated the strength of voter recalls in 2013, but not this time. Already an anti-recall committee has emerged asking voters to “stand up to hatred and say no to this recall election.” Ms. Galindo has argued that SB 181 will not result in job losses and is blasting “misguided extremists” for targeting her based on “who I am,” namely, an openly gay Hispanic woman. Recall organizers say that has nothing to do with their opposition. The measure needs 5,696 valid signatures from district voters by June 3 to force a recall election. “Galindo says SB 181 won’t destroy jobs. Well, there is one job it will destroy. Hers. We deserve better representation,” said the Recall Rochelle crowdfunding page on FreedomFy. The Recall Polis group has more than 34,000 followers on Facebook, but so far the Boulder Democrat appears unfazed, and for good reason: Recalling a governor is a mammoth undertaking that would require 650,000 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. And Mr. Polis is no ordinary governor: The former congressman is a multi-millionaire who has long controlled Democratic politics as one of the so-called Gang of Four liberal megadonors. He’s also never lost a race. “I totally get that 42 percent of the state didn’t vote for me, and I’m doing my best to convince them that I’m going to do a good job for them too,” Mr. Polis told Colorado Public Radio. “But I’m going to do what I said I would do.” Any Polis recall might have to take place without the support of state Republicans. “I’m not there yet,” said Mr. Buck. “I think when you’re talking about a governor, there’s a higher standard than a state legislator.” On shakier ground is the National Popular Vote. Ms. Pugliese, who heads the repeal effort with Monument Mayor Don Wilson, said supporters include Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated voters. No Republican legislator voted in favor of the measure, and several Democrats voted against it. “It has been amazing,” said Ms. Pugliese. “More people have stopped me to talk about the National Popular Vote bill, and I mean even before we had our petitions, than even the oil-and-gas bill, and this is a very strong oil-and-gas community. Or even the red-flag bill, and we have a strong Second Amendment community.” The repeal campaign needs to gather 124,632 valid signatures — she’s aiming for 200,000 signatures — by Aug. 1 in order to qualify for the November 2020 ballot, and she’s confident she’ll get them. “I’m concerned about our votes getting taken away by a legislature and a governor who didn’t ask us,” said Ms. Pugliese. “We’re going to fight to get this on the ballot, and then let the people decide.”

Wow..  We’ll, of course, keep an eye on this developing story.     🙂