Clinton Gun Control Plan Reignites The Debate In Colorado
DENVER (CBS4) - Gun control is now front and center in the Campaign 2016 race after the deadly shooting at a college campus in Oregon.
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is pushing a plan to expand background checks for firearm sales online and at gun shows, but some Republican candidates say the focus should be on mental illness.
Clinton's campaign says most Americans support her reforms, which are more restrictive than those on the books in Colorado. The proposals were too ambitious for Democrats in Colorado two years ago. One idea is a proposal Democrats had to abandon during the legislative session, and even with that they lost cost them control of the state senate.
State Rep. Rhonda Fields, a Democrat who represents Aurora, spearheaded Colorado's 2013 gun controls and calls Clinton's move to make them a campaign issue overdue.
"I think we have to talk about it," Fields said. "I don't think we should be putting our blinders on and our heads in the sand and just saying 'Stuff happens.'"
Clinton's proposals expand background checks, closing a loophole that requires a gun to be sold to a buyer if a background check isn't completed within 72 hours. It bans domestic abusers from owning guns, reinstates provisions of the assault weapons ban and holds manufacturers liable for sales that lead to shooting deaths.
State Sen. Jesse Ulibarri, a Democrat who represents Adams County, is helping organize Clinton's grassroots campaign.
"Day in, day out we continue to receive news that these things are happening. These tragedies, these horrific events are happening in our community," Ulibarri said. "The response should be action."
But conservatives say the plan is just politics.
"The laws that they propose never stop the bad guy," said Laura Carno, a conservative political strategist.
Clinton says she will also use executive power to press her reforms if necessary. Carno says Clinton is simply acting to turn around poll numbers that are slumping in primary states.
"This is a primary ploy. She and Bernie Sanders are trying to pitch their ideas to Democrats on who is going to be the more liberal," Carno said.
