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That’s it, folks. Two Colorado state senators, both of whom were instrumental in passing a slate of Bloomberg-pushed gun control measures, have been recalled in the first such election in the Centennial State’s history. The effort was spearheaded by a grassroots group of gun rights advocates (with NRA help) who believed that the latest laws were a major infringement on their right to keep and bear arms. They were also appalled that the people they’d elected to represent them actively ignored their views in favor of voting in lock-step with the Democrat party. Despite the millions of dollars spent by the Dems and Bloomberg, the people of Colorado sent an unmistakable message to other gun-grabbing legislators: violate the Second Amendment at your own political risk.

Pop the champagne, people.

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134 COMMENTS

  1. Hopefully the Democrats will start learning that gun control isn’t the slam dunk that they thought it was.

    By which I mean it’s going to start costing them more and more votes if they keep it up.

    It’s already cost them mine and it was not an easy decision.

    • They sere predicting Gyro well in the lead. I suspect this was an attempt to suppress the vote of people getting to the poles after work.

    • And Morris and Giron will be given cushy, well-paying government jobs (or at some University or non-profit). One reason Dems will mostly be loyal to Party over constituents. Still, nothing we can do about that (in the short term). Ousting the punks was absolutely the right thing to do.

    • Indeed. She IS a ‘witch’. And an evil one at that. As well as being a classic psychopath.

      How is she a ‘psychopath’?

      Because in her concession speech she said she had no regrets.

      Typical of psychopaths, as they have no shame.

      Psychopaths are untreatable in psychotherapy precisely because having a conscience is a prerequisite for being able to use psychotherapy, and psychopaths have no conscience in the first place. — Sigmund Freud

  5. I actually had a bottle of champagne set aside just in case. Thank you for the excellent coverage tonight and congratulations, everyone.

  8. Congratulations to the people of CO. It’s just sad that not all 50 have the privision to do the same. I think only like 25 have it, but not sure on that number.

    • +1 That is the next (the 2nd) step.

      The third step should be firing several other state senators and assemblymen in the next election who also voted for those bad laws.

  12. Millions of dollars from Bloomberg and the anti’s couldn’t even beat a bunch of gun guys… A few plumbers and blue collar workers just beat a massive multimillion dollar conglomerate of political organizations run by people that not only elected the president but also literally own a massive media organization. Verdict for Democrats: Don’t even fucking think it.

      • <joke>
        A surgeon had to call a plumber one day. When the plumber finished his work and presented his bill, the surgeon said, “Yikes! I don’t get this kind of money for surgery!” The plumber replied, “Yeah, I know. Neither did I when I was a surgeon.” <rimshot>
        </joke>

    • Here’s the $corecard from the whiney HuffPo:
      “New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a staunch supporter of stricter gun laws, donated $350,000 to Morse and Giron. Billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad gave a separate $250,000 check to help the legislators, while Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) repeatedly issued fundraising calls for Giron in emails to her supporters. The Denver Post reported Monday that those in Morse and Giron’s corner had collected nearly $3 million, while proponents of the recall raised about $540,000.”

      Contrast that wad with:
      “The NRA spent heavily on the recall effort, reporting at least $360,000 and funneling unspecified dollars through its nonprofit arm. The billionaire conservative Koch brothers also entered the fray, using their advocacy group Americans For Prosperity to target Morse and Giron. Due to the organization’s nonprofit status, AFP also did not have to report its spending to the Federal Elections Commission.”

      I’m a happy guy. I wish MD had a recall provision.

    • You are buying into Bloomer’s stereo type of gun owners and pro 2A people. Many happen to be Drs., lawyers, college professors, school teachers, accountants etc.

  15. For the first time in a while, I feel proud to be a Coloradan. Lots of work ahead but tonight is a night to celebrate.

    • Congrats and good job. I was reading the Denver Post’s site tonight and their editorial was fscking hilarious…

      We hope the outcome of Tuesday’s recall elections closes an ugly chapter in Colorado’s political history, an instance when recalls were used against elected officials not for malfeasance or corruption in office but for simply voting their consciences.
      http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_24064796/time-move-past-colorado-recall-elections
      What the H-E-double hockey stick? No the recalls were used because they refused to vote the way their constituents in their respective districts wished them to vote. Their job is not to vote “their consciences”. Morse’s and Giron’s job was to represent the people that sent them to the legislature, which they clearly chose not to.

      Again, good job. Hopefully there will be other political reps that will wise up that people are sick and tired of their holier-that-thou form of politics.

      • ^^^ exactly

        “…were used against elected officials…” <<< Um… they aren't elected leaders/officials. They are elected to be representatives. Their job is to represent their district and the constituents in it. When they vote how they want, against the desires of the people whom they are supposed to represent, this is what SHOULD happen. Kick ’em out.

    • They won’t until the rest of you get off your dead fourth-point-of-contact and recall your own oath-breakers.

  18. Maybe this will restart the stalled effort to recall Hickenloopy. Booting his ass would fill up a lot of Democrat under britches.

  19. After seeing CT and CA passing the most asinine laws imaginable, seeing this brings the spirit up a lot. Good job CO.

  24. I’m extremely happy with these results from Colorado, but extremely pissed about what happened in CA today. Kinda don’t know how to feel.

    • I feel the same way. I moved (back) to Utah from the SF bay area just a few months ago, and I’m so glad to escape the CA state government. I miss my friends, but I don’t miss the politics there one bit. In Utah I can talk about firearms and people are excited to talk about the last time they went shooting too. Talk about a contrast. But tonight I give a big thanks to my neighbors the next state over. w00t!

    • Just looked it up on Wikipedia, and it’s not even close. The general assembly is still democrat majority in both houses. It seems unlikely to have more than symbolic effect. Not that symbolism is a bad thing.

      • Now they only have a 1 vote majority in the Senate. That makes a big difference as in some of the voting this year, the Dems were not unified.

      • The Democrats dominate BOTH houses of the Colorado State Assembly—and most other states—because in 1964, the Supreme Court overthrew every state constitution by requiring that state senators be elected based on the same measure as the state assembly lower house, i.e., BY POPULATION.

        So, in Colorado, the Denver metroplex ALONE holds 17 of the 35 state senate seats. The rural counties be damned!

      • ^^^ This… just because it is democratically controlled doesn’t mean they won’t get the message… Vote against gun rights and your JOB is in jeopardy. Unless you represent Denver or Boulder that is.. they’ll continue to vote Demo no matter what they do…

  27. Now is the time to strike while the proverbial iron is hot: some Colorado legislator has to introduce a bill that repeals the magazine capacity restriction and whatever else they passed. And that legislator has to tell the legislators who previously supported those restrictions that they will not only lose the next election if they fail to repeal the restrictions, they will likely be recalled and lose their jobs immediately.

    Oh, and they should send a similar message to Gov. Hickenlooper.

  28. Hahaha, yes! Oh, just in case anyone forgot, remember this quote from the mom’s lacking action? “If the NRA succeeds in these Colorado recall elections, it will have a chilling effect on legislators all across the country who may be willing to stand up for gun sense.” Hahaha, yes X 2!

  32. I suggest that a better tactic would be to push for EVERY state to have recall elections added to their state consitutions!

  33. I want to point out that Giron is in a solid DEM district and she went down by double-digit margin. There’s no way she is recalled without fellow DEMs voting against her.

    • Not necessarily, if few of the anti-recall dems showed up to vote but nearly all the pro-recall people showed up, then it would have worked. Pretty sure that’s how it probably went down in Pueblo.

      By the way, awesome username. Colorado Pride!

    • 22% of the recall petition signatures were from Pueblo county Democrats.

      They and the independents made up 49% of the petition signers.

  36. Denver Post already has an editorial up- “Enough already. Let’s move on.”
    I couldn’t agree more. Who else wants some?

  37. Words cannot express how I feel. However it is only a beginning. There are still other states that are in need. California, most of the North East, etc….

    We need to use our momentum just like the opposition to freedom likes to do.

    We need to make the Federal Government feel the same turn in public opinion.

  38. So when do the two of them start their new careers as lobbyists / Cable news commentators and or pro disarmament speakers. Sadly by defeating these people, we given then new political life. We’ve turned a man who at most might have gotten a state office building, or remote stretch of highway named after him into a national hero. (to some) Yes, it’s worth it, and as I said above, this is big. Real big. But remember, don’t take your eyes off these creeps. Not for a second. This isn’t the last we’ve seen of them.

  39. Its amazing every left-wing news media source is blaming the pro-gun 2nd Amendment movement for this “travesty”. Keep up the good work and keep push forward. The next battleground will be in 2014. This will not only be a state but at the national level as well. And like everyone else has stated my faith in Colorado has been restored. I am curious if this will snowball to the other states as well.

  42. My faith in America has been partially restored. Just read on Denver Post, where they reported NRA spent 360K on recall efforts, with no mention of dollars spent by the opposition. NPR reported anti-recall out spent 7-1 to pro-recall. Guess that was money wasted. Thanks to all the folks in Colorado that worked to make this happen, you were outspent, outmanned, and underrated. But you prevailed. The will of the people!

  44. the huffpo is pissed.
    “Proponents of the recall were defiant in their victory over Morse as results became clear Tuesday night.”

    • That’s …. interesting. In Kalifornia, it’s almost impossible to get a gun (legally), but you can get alcohol in grocery stores 24/7.

  50. This is absolutely fantastic. To everyone who did something to help this, I tip my hat and raise a toast to you.
    Geez, I’ve tossed a very modest amount of money to election campaigns, re-election campaigns, ballots near and far. This is the first time it’s worked. Holy crap, I feel like I can quit banging my head against the wall!
    Maybe, just maybe, the California folks will pay attention to this?
    In the immortal words of the Honorable Mr. Todd Beamer, “Let’s Roll”

  51. My only concern is that these re-call attempts are going to start becoming a norm in our politics now, where if a politician votes a certain way or pushes for a certain legislative agenda, then there will be efforts to re-call them, like with Walker and these two politicians. Short-term, it was a victory for us, but longer-term, could maybe cause problems.

    • Politicians are the employees of their constituency. As long as politicians vote the will of their constituents and push the legislative agendas backed by their constituents then they have nothing to fear. You see that is the ENTIRE JOB of an employee (politician) to do the will of their bosses (constituents). As soon as the employee stops doing their job….. in the words of the Donald…. “You’re fired.”

      • We should ask The Donald – “If you were elected president, would you fire the Secret Service, the NSA, the TSA, the DHS, the BATFE, the IRS, and all those other unelected unconstitutional bureaucrats?”

  53. Awesome!!! Is it me, or does it seem like the Democrat Party finally “jumped-the-shark” in the past week or so. Anyhow, if I had to guess, this recall ought to inspire many American’s. It says that the people of the United States can standup to tyranny, that we can win back our country from these self-proclaimed elitists. Personally, I say that they can take their notion of enlightenment and shove it. This attack on the 2nd Amendment by the left has many similarities to our forefather’s struggles against the Stamp Act of 1765. We won this fight, and tonight, it is a time to celebrate. Tomorrow, we must remember that just like the British Empire some 247 years ago, our opponents who endeavor to take away our freedoms are not yet finished. How far will these autocrats take it? Who knows.

  54. I’m as glad as anyone here that these two scumbags were booted, but, being from CA, I gotta be a bit of a wet blanket: we’re losing. Badly.

    The most populous state in the US, CA, just effortlessly joined the other most populous regions in the US in going full retard on its gun laws, and these idiot legislators are most likely not even close to done. It’s just so damn easy for them, and they draw a nice salary for it too!

    By contrast, we apply absurd efforts in orchestrating a completely symbolic recall that has no national relevance whatsoever. Feel victorious? You shouldn’t. CA/NY/NJ/CT/MA/etc. anti legislators are looking at these headlines and probably laughing.

    We need to make their life hell in so many more ways than this. Otherwise we lose.

    • I hear you Matt, but I don’t know that I agree it’s completely symbolic. I have had my eyes and ears open for any new laws coming up in MA, and have been pleasantly surprised by the lack of anti gun fervor. I think this is due in some part to pols fearing backlash. The safe thing to do is wait and see how it goes over other places first. The more battles we can win no matter symbolic or not, the more credible the threat of backlash.

    • I feel for you being in CA, but I have to tell you this victory for our side is a HUGE boon when discussing issues with my local legislatures just north of you here in Oregon. The recall won’t stop the true believers but for the non-true believers it’s now a dead issue and they make up most of the legislature. Conversely a loss would have been a tremendous blow, once they feel it’s safe, places like Oregon would nearly overnight get laws more in line with California’s.

    • Some 70 percent of the US population live in “shall issue” States. So, the “most populous” argument must be taken with a grain of salt.

  55. Out spent 7 to 1? That’s what is known as being PWNED!!! Let’s build on this.
    Those who weren’t recalled today, can still be recalled at the ballot box.
    I’m reminded of a quote often credited to Admiral Yamamoto on Pearl Harbor.

    “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible
    resolve.”

    We need to fill ourselves with that terrible resolve.

  57. I’m absolutely dying to see the break down of how the Dem’s and Bloomberg spent their money on Morse versus Giron. Being Senate President I wonder if they favored him, and that was how it resulted in the close race. Where as if they neglected Giron, the results there are a better example of how people actually feel.

    I think that would make an excellent post mortem article to do for tomorrow!

    • I believe that is what happened, If I remember correctly he had only one the general election by less than 500 votes where she had like 60% of the votes in a heavy Democrat district. So I was expecting that his recall would be successful by a pretty large margin, while I was no sure about hers, and if it was it would be a much closer margin. The fact that the results are flipped from what I would expect, suggests that either his swing district really did not care about four 2nd Amendment rights while the democrats in her district really cared about the 2nd Amendment, or the focus was mainly on his district because they figured she was pretty safe.

      • Added to what I just said, I would expect that with the little bit of money that the pro 2nd amendment side spent on campaigning she got the majority of it while he got the lesser for the same reason. His recall vote to be successful, while hers was much less likely.

      • I suspect Morse had his numbers boosted by the presence of Colorado College in the district. There was a serious get out the vote effort focused on the student body. I’d bet that if the student vote could be factored out, the final would not have been as close.

      • From what I understand (I’m new to CO), a loophole in the law stated that you could vote in the recall elections if you “intended to reside in the district,” or some other such nonsense. Liberals were supposedly bussing “potential residents” in so their voice could be heard. Please feel free to cite or correct me on that…

        There was a very real fear that Democrat voter fraud would steal this thing. I’m surprised that Morse’s race was as close as it was – considering that the number of recall initiation signatures was something like twice the number of original votes that elected him.

  60. I appologize for the off topic and Nick I know you said y’all are working on it but I do and dont like this format. The old mobile version just showed a string of replies, using arrows, so I couldnt tell whos reply was to who when there was multiple. I really like that this version shows that. But I have no darn reply button. ¿Por que no los dos?

  62. This just made waking up for work a heck of a lot earlier. I’m a little shocked by Giron’s defeat, even though I wrote Morse off a while ago.

  63. This makes me so happy! So when does the repeal of the retarded laws start? The Morse vote was entirely too close, Progs must have been bussing in voters from all over the west coast.

  64. The Democrats may start trying to play dead on the gun issue. We must not let them. He have to kick them out of office at every level of government whenever and wherever possible.

    I know Republicans can also be lousy on the gun issue, (Pat Toomey, anyone?) but they tend not to start the trouble.

  65. Excellent news! The “other side” is making this all about the NRA as usual. Here’s the sour grapes from the other side :):

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/10/colorado-recall-results_n_3903209.html

    And here’s the key quote:

    “There’s an understandable impulse to extrapolate the Colorado results into a national trend. The only trend here is the NRA wasn’t able to defeat as many legislators as it went after,” Glaze told The Huffington Post in an interview.

  68. cue picture of Bloomberg getting spanked, while the MAIG spokesman spins this as a victory cause they put up a fight.

  70. great article in the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/11/us/colorado-lawmaker-concedes-defeat-in-recall-over-gun-law.html?hp&_r=0

    “While both sides campaigned vigorously, knocking on doors, holding rallies and driving voters to the polls, gun-control advocates far outspent their opponents. A range of philanthropists, liberal political groups, unions and activists raised a total of $3 million to defend Mr. Morse and Ms. Giron. Mr. Bloomberg personally gave $350,000.”

  71. While this is a great result let’s not get carried away about the size of the victory.

    This was a one issue election where the Democratic base was not motivated to come out. The base may give verbal support to the gun control cause but it doesn’t excite them enough to show up for a special election. The attitude of the typical Democratic voter was best expressed in 2008 by a woman in Baltimore who said upon the election of Obama “he will pay my mortgage and put gas in my car.” They are only motivated to come out when free stuff is on the line. Why do you think Obamacare is tanking? He told the base that healthcare would be free and now they find out it will cost them big bucks.

    The second factor favoring the successful recall was that you had to show up at the polls. Only traditional early voting was allowed, i.e., you had to be absent on election day. Mail and early voting gets the unmotivated to vote and increases the opportunity for fraud.

    Don’t fall into the activist trap like the gun grabbers did. There is a good chance that both Senators will be elected again in a general election where more than guns are on the ballot. A good follow up strategy for the next step is to introduce repeal legislation to get the Democrats on record as unresponsive to popular sentiment before the next general election. You never know, this recall may be sary enough to get the legislation repealed and force Hickenlooper to veto it.

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