UPDATE 6: Gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo:

“Having served in Congress for ten years, I am no longer surprised by the expressions of massive ignorance displayed by my colleagues regarding guns. DeGette thinks magazines are bullets for God’s sake, Hullinghorst finds ‘absurdity’ in self-defense, and Sen. Feinstein thinks she can draw a picture of an assault weapon. Who would be surprised if none of them can spell ‘Constitution’?”

UPDATE 5: U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck emails saying “Rep. Hullinghorst appears to believe her job as a representative is to pick and choose how we may defend ourselves and those we love.” See his full comment at the end. 

UPDATE 4: Our good friend Michael Brown covers the controversy on his 630KHOW show (catch it weekdays, from 4-7pm). You can hear his segment on Hullinghorst at the end.

UPDATE 3: U.S. Senate candidate State Senator Owen Hill reacts to Hullinghorst’s comments saying it makes him “fighting mad to hear such absurd statements from radical Democratic leaders like Mrs. Hullinghorst.” His full statement can be found at the end.

UPDATE 2: Denver Westword‘s Michael Roberts weighs in:

Colorado Peak Politics wants to know why the media hasn’t made more of House Minority Leader Dickey Lee Hullinghorst’s quotes that appear to call the act of self-defense “absurd.”

UPDATE: Gubernatorial candidate Senator Greg Brophy weighs in. Additional comments by Brophy at the end.

Unbelievably naive from a citizen. Absolutely dangerous from an elected official and leader of the Democratic Party in Colorado. Speaks volumes about the Democratic agenda on guns.

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When a Republican makes an offensive statement, the media is all over it. Multiple follow up stories, ambush interviews outside the GOPer’s house, anything to get the politician on record. Hell, even a blog comment made by a former politician earned a story in The Denver Post last week. 

But when a Democratic member of House leadership — House Majority Leader Dickey Lee Hullinghorst — condemns the basic right of self-defense and calls arguments about that right “absurd” and “frivolous” suddenly the media takes a vacation. 

Here’s the full quote from Hullinghorst’s interview:

“The thought that the only way we can protect ourselves is to wield our own weapon is completely absurd and an argument that I absolutely discount as frivolous.”

So where’s the coverage of these offensive and outlandish comments?

Nothing from KDVR‘s Eli Stokols, who seemingly writes up every single thing that happens in Colorado politics. Nothing from The Denver Post‘s prolific scribe Lynn Bartels, who apparently found a Peak guest post and comment on our blog worth two separate, stand-alone stories. Nothing from Brandon Rittiman or Kyle Clark at 9News, who can normally be counted on to cover scandals from both sides of the aisle, equally.

Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Our readers, however, feel very much that this is a serious news story that the voters of Colorado deserve to hear about. The nearly 6,000 people who have “liked” the story on Facebook think so, and so do the dozens who have emailed, Facebooked and tweeted us to ask why the media was ignoring this story.

Hullinghorst’s comments are an attack on the very basic underpinning of the Second Amendment. Calling the idea that a gun is the only way to defend your life and property “frivolous” and “absurd” only underscores how out of touch the Boulder-Denver leadership of House Democrats have become. Ask a rural resident who lives 30 minutes or more away from a police station if the only way to protect their family is with a gun should an armed intruder seek to do them harm.

Hullinghorst wasn’t attacking arguments against laws on gun transfers or banning sizes of magazines — she was saying the very idea of guns as a basis of last resort self-defense is a “frivolous” and an “absurd” argument.

It is a manifestation of the Democratic leadership’s thoughts on guns and a citizen’s right to protect their person and property.

It also falls in line with similar comments by other legislative Democrats — like Senator Evie Hudak’s dismissive comment to a rape victim that a gun wouldn’t have stopped her rapist, or Representative Joe Salazar’s claim that college women aren’t able to tell when they are about to be raped and might “pop off” at unsuspecting bystanders. Instead, Salazar said, women should rely on rape whistles and call boxes.

Hullinghorst’s comments were part of a distressing pattern of Democratic attacks on the Second Amendment.

With two recall elections in full swing about this very issue — gun rights — you would think the media would cover Hullinghorst’s offensive, revealing and outlandish statement.

Do Angela Giron and John Morse think using guns for self-defense is a frivolous and absurd idea?

The people of Colorado deserve to know.

UPDATE (continued): Senator Brophy emailed the Peak some additional comments:

When confronted with a criminal thug or group of them, a victim can use reason or force to dissuade the thugs from robbery, rape or murder. Apparently Majority Leader Hullinghorst believes reason will work just fine. Most of Colorado understands that force is necessary and a firearm is the most reliable form of force for a victim, especially a smaller and weaker person.

UPDATE 3 (continued): Full reaction email to the Peak by State Senator Owen Hill:

“It makes me fighting mad to hear such absurd statements from radical Democratic leaders like Mrs. Hullinghorst.

This why I led the fight in the Senate for Constitutional carry, ensuring that our wives, mothers, and all law abiding citizens have the right to simply protect themselves.

To even suggest anything to the contrary is proof that liberal Democrats think they can run your lives better than you can.”

UPDATE 4 (continued): Hear the full 630KHOW segment here:

UPDATE 5 (continued): Here is Buck’s full comment on the controversy:

“Rep. Hullinghorst appears to believe her job as a representative is to pick and choose how we may defend ourselves and those we love. This is a belief that appears to be shared by many of the Democratic representatives in the Capitol, which includes the embattled senators from Pueblo and Colorado Springs currently facing historic recall elections. Hullinghorst doesn’t trust law abiding citizens to exercise their rights, even if that may mean they would become victims.”