A proposed ballot initiative to ban concealed carry on college campuses has been scrapped by its backers who said that the issue has become a “political football”. The Peak first broke the story of the proposed initiative in December when the group filed with the Secretary of State’s office. According to the Associated Press report on the group’s admitted defeat:
Safe Campus Colorado announced Thursday that it would not put forward petition signatures because the question was becoming an issue in several elections. The group did not elaborate.
We wonder which elections they could possibly mean? Could it be that the left is fearful that putting a ballot initiative that would bring Second Amendment enthusiasts out for the election would jeopardize fragile elections like Colorado’s gubernatorial race and the U.S. Senate race? Is the left afraid that having a gun issue on the ballot will force politicians like John Hickenlooper and Mark Udall to answer for their crappy record on Second Amendment issues?
After all, the only purpose of the issue committee was to put forth a ballot initiative to “amend the current concealed carry law to exclude college campuses from the concealed carry law.” And, truly, the backlash would have been terrible. The most compelling testimony against the over-reaching gun laws in the 2013 legislative session was that of college women who wanted to protect themselves. It’s highly likely that a rehash of such testimony would have been devastating to Colorado’s Democratic candidates.