“It’s coming. It is.”: Colorado Democrats explore gun legislation for 2020

Having passed the red flag gun bill last year, the state legislature cannot become complacent on the issue of gun violence, argues state Rep. Tom Sullivan.

“It should be something that we discuss on a regular basis,” said Sullivan, a Democrat from Aurora who championed the red flag bill, and whose son was murdered in the 2012 movie theater massacre. “You should see one or two of these types of bills being brought forward, year after year after year, so that collectively, after five or six bills, we’ve tightened things up.”

Sullivan knows how some will interpret that statement: as a declaration of war on the Second Amendment. He insists that safe, responsible gun owners have nothing to fear. He and other Democrats said similar things last legislative session, but the red flag bill subjected them to a backlash that included a failed effort to recall Sullivan.

Nevertheless, gun-related legislation will be introduced next session, Sullivan assured The Denver Post in an interview last week.