Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Colorado gun control law prompts efforts to recall two who supported it

The New York Times reported yesterday on the upcoming recall election aimed at removing from office the President of the Colorado State Senate, John Morse who represents a Colorado Springs-area district, and Senator Angela Giron of Pueblo.  Both are Democrats and both supported new gun limits that were passed earlier this year--the first such limits in Colorado in  more than a decade.   Jack Healy reports:
Supporters of the new gun laws — including Gov. John W. Hickenlooper, a Democrat — said they were tailored for Colorado. Lawmakers increased the proposed limits on clip size to 15 rounds from 10, and added provisions to allow parents to pass down guns to their children without a background check. Supporters released opinion polls showing they had the support of solid majorities of Colorado residents.
While the pro-gun movement has been widely associated with rural America, I note that Colorado Springs and Pueblo are both metropolitan, though Pueblo is a bit smaller, with a population of 106,000 in a county with a population of 159,000.  Healy's story notes that failed recall efforts were mounted against two other state legislators, but he does not indicate where those legislators were from.  Indeed, the story doesn't mention rurality, but it does implicitly refer to the rural-urban axis--or more precisely, the rural-urban continuum:
The recall effort is seen nationally as a test of whether politicians, largely Democrats, outside big cities and deep-blue coastal states can survive the political fallout of supporting stricter gun laws.
P.S.  Another story about the geography of gun control is here.

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