By Jesse Paul | Colorado Sun
When it comes to preventing gun violence in Colorado, there’s not much Democrats and Republicans agree on.
Getting gun rights and pro-gun regulation groups on the same page? That’s unheard of.
So when a bill was introduced in the legislature this year to increase penalties for stealing guns that brought those groups together, it seemed like a slam dunk. But the measure, House Bill 1162, was rejected in the House Judiciary Committee last week in a collision of two priorities for the Democratic majority at the Capitol: its desire to curb gun violence and its push to reduce the number of people being sent to prison.
“We’re not going to incarcerate ourselves out of this,” said state Sen. Tom Sullivan, a Centennial Democrat and one of the legislature’s fiercest gun safety voices. His son, Alex, was murdered in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting.