The Master Cometh

Obama is coming to town, and the press seems all a tither:

Obama to praise Colorado gun control laws Wednesday at Denver Police Academy:

"The landmark legislation has made Colorado, a state with a deep western heritage that’s also endured two horrific mass shootings, a symbolic vanguard for the country; but the legislative process at the Capitol has also exposed just how contentious and politically risky the issue can be."

That landmark legislation was, of course, the anti gun owner bills that Hickenlooper signed into law. Obama is dropping by for a number of reasons: to keep up his campaign for more gun owner control nationally; to help boost support for democrats who may be unpopular due to their support for these anti gun owner bills, and perhaps as meaningfully, to screw up traffic in a town where traffic is already screwed up enough that auto body shops don't need to advertise.

The Denver Post's story on this visit from on high seems to confirm my first assertion:

"In his first trip back to Colorado since his re-election, President Barack Obama on Wednesday will say he wants Congress to act more like the state's Democratic-controlled legislature and quickly — without extended drama — pass stronger gun-control laws."

Also, this seems to support my assertion that the universal background check bill was the centerpiece of the D.C. agenda for Colorado:

"But last week Obama spoke about the need for universal background checks specifically. He was surrounded by victims of gun violence as he appealed to the public to lean on Congress, saying 90 percent of Americans believe in background checks."

The article is worth a read, as it does a decent job of mentioning the importance of these bills to Obama's national effort, as well as the local opposition to gun owner control.

As Say Uncle, Alphecca, and Shall Not Be Questioned mention, there's a hard push for more gun owner control in Connecticut. Colorado is seen as a pro gun owner state, so the fact that gun owner control laws passed here is being used to urge folks in other states to emulate us. It's been mentioned in almost every news story I've seen about Connecticut's current legislative efforts, and it will be used in other states as well as nationally.

Some current and former Denver cops are criticizing the use of uniformed police as a backdrop for Obama's visit. A retired detective says that using Denver cops would give the impression that the Denver PD and the city of Denver support stricter gun control laws. The problem is, the Denver PD and the city of Denver do support stronger gun control laws. The city has an "assault weapons" ban, complete with magazine capacity limit (20 rounds if I recall) and bans open carry despite two constitutions saying they can't. I have seen no position statement by the city of Denver or the Denver PD but given their enforcement of current gun owner control laws I cannot fathom that they'd oppose more restrictions.

An ethics board has been asked to review the situation, but they won't meet until after the event has taken place. In that story it's mentioned that there will be a group of sheriff's present ("down the street") in support of the Right to arms. The story does not mention exactly how far away from the cameras these good folks will be, but don't look for full coverage on CNN.

I note that Colorado is launching a new marketing ploy: "Making Colorado".

I'm pretty sure this is an effort to shore up some of the losses from firearm competitions being cancelled, the hunting boycott that's just getting started, a wave of firearms related businesses that are leaving and even TV shows that are deciding to film elsewhere. All because of the recent gun owner control laws that have been passed.

I don't think there's a need for a marketing campaign to brand Colorado - Obama, with the help of the governor and the democrats in the state legislature, have already done that. I've heard tattoo removal can be painful. We'll see, in 2014.

Posted by Publicola at April 3, 2013 12:58 AM | TrackBack