Tag: Colorado

Civil Disobedience is Beautiful

I have to hand it to Colorado gun owners, they aren’t going quietly into the night. Magpul was giving away magazines and gun owners decided to hold a magazine swap at the Colorado Capital:

DENVER – Gun rights advocates held an ammunition magazine swap at the state Capitol in Denver on Monday to defy a new state law.

During the “Magazine Swap at the Capitol,” activists urged people from Colorado and surrounding areas to buy, sell and swap magazines that hold more than 15 rounds.

[…]

More than 50 people attended the protest event at the Capitol with many passing ammunition magazines around a circle of people.

Civil disobedience is a wonderful thing. From what I can find it appears that no arrests were made during the event, which really goes to show just how toothless the new prohibition is. More swaps like this should be held and people from surrounding states that can still purchase standard capacity magazines should attend in droves.

Magpul Demonstrates How it’s Done

Since Colorado passed its recent ban on standard capacity magazine Magpul has been demonstrating how to fight for gun rights. With the ban taking effect on July 1st, Magpul has decided to have a little shindig on June 29th:

ATTENTION COLORADO!

Come on out and join the festivities at Infinity Park in Glendale, CO, this Saturday, June 29, celebrating FREEDOM on the last weekend before the unconstitutional mag ban takes effect, and get your last shot at purchasing PMAGs. We’ll be there, and we’ve ponied up a LOT of PMAGs. First 1500 through the gate get a Boulder Airlift or Free CO PMAG FREE! Food, live music, and a helo-borne aerial delivery of PMAGs. Proceeds from mag sales go towards the legislative and legal fight for 2A rights in CO. Get tickets and pre-purchase PMAGs at:

www.freecolorado.net

“GLENDALE— Saturday, June 29th, Free Colorado, a non-profit organization advocating for the rights of gun owners, will host “A Farewell to Arms” Freedom Festival. This event marks Coloradan’s last chance to celebrate the ability to own standard capacity magazines prior to new Colorado laws taking effect on July 1st.

The first 1500 attendees through the gate over the age of 18 will receive a free Magpul Gen M2 MOE 30rd magazine featuring either the Free Colorado or Boulder Airlift design, courtesy of Magpul Industries Corp. Tickets for attendees and magazines can be pre-purchased online at www.freecolorado.net.”

I’m glad to see Magpul is doing what it can to ensure as many standard capacity magazines are distributed in Colorado before the ban becomes enforceable. After July 1st it will be up to us gun owners living outside of Colorado to ensure our friends inside of Colorado can still get access to standard capacity magazines. Together we can render this ban irrelevant.

Colorado Falls

I don’t think anybody was surprised to hear that John Hickenlooper signed the asinine Colorado gun control bill:

The governor of Colorado signed bills Wednesday that put sweeping new restrictions on sales of firearms and ammunition in a state with a pioneer tradition of gun ownership and self-reliance.

The bills thrust Colorado into the national spotlight as a potential test of how far the country might be willing to go with new gun restrictions after the horror of mass killings at an Aurora movie theater and a Connecticut elementary school.

The approval by Gov. John Hickenlooper came exactly eight months after dozens of people were shot at the theater, and the day after the executive director of the state Corrections Department was shot and killed at his home.

The bills require background checks for private and online gun sales and ban ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds.

I’ve read several blogs urging Colorado gun owners to start tooling up for the 2014 election. Don’t worry, I’m not going to waste your time urging you to beg politicians next year to restore some of your liberties. I do want to see denizens of Colorado tooling up, just not for politics. Once again I’m going to bring up what I’m calling Plan B, the decentralized production of verboten firearms and accessories. But there is something those of us living outside of Colorado can do for those suffering under that state’s regime, get verboten products into their hands. Magpul has been trying their best to flood the Colorado market with standard capacity magazines but their operation doesn’t have to stop just because they’re leaving the state. Those of us living outside of Colorado can still put standard capacity magazines into the hands of Colorado gun owners and we should.

Yes, I’m urging gun owners to break the law. Just because some dude wearing a suit and sitting behind a fancy desk in a large marble building says something is a law doesn’t mean it’s just. When the state makes an unjust decree it is right to actively disobey it. If you’re living in Colorado don’t waste your time begging politicians for freedom, even if they grant it to you you’ll face the threat of future politicians taking it away. Instead render their power irrelevant, let them know you will not obey them, let them know that the people no longer view their decrees as legitimate. The only way you’ll gain freedom is if you take it.

Magpul Planning to Flood Colorado with Standard Capacity Magazines

I love Magpul. They offer several great products including affordable and reliable magazines for my LR-308. I’m happy to see that they’re planning on fighting the currently progressing ban on standard capacity magazines in Colorado by flooding the state with standard capacity magazines:

We are proud to announce that within a matter of days we will be going live with a new program. Due to a bill currently moving through the Colorado legislature, there is the possibility that Colorado residents’ ability to purchase standard capacity magazines will soon be infringed. Before that happens, and Magpul is forced to leave the state in order to keep to our principles, we will be doing our best to get standard capacity PMAGs into the hands of any Colorado resident that wants them.

Verified Colorado residents will be able to purchase up to ten (10) standard capacity AR/M4 magazines directly from Magpul, and will be given immediate flat-rate $5 shipping, bypassing our current order queue.

Our customers outside of Colorado, please know that our PMAG production will continue at an ever-increasing rate until we do relocate, shipments to our distributors in other states will continue, and that we do not expect relocation to significantly impact PMAG production. We are also aware that Colorado is not the only state with existing or pending magazine capacity restrictions; we are working on programs for other affected states as well.

Full details and instructions will be announced when we are able to go live; please watch here for the coming announcement.

While I understand this program may delay the availability of PMAGs for those of us living outside of Colorado I’m more than happy to deal with that inconvenience. Magpul is fighting Colorado’s gun control bills the right way by planning to leave the state if the laws pass and ensuring as many standard capacity magazines are in the Colorado market as possible. Even if the prohibition against standard capacity magazines can’t be stopped from passing it can be ensured that the market is flooded with standard capacity magazines, making the ban mostly irrelevant.

Colorado House Passes Four Gun Control Bills

It appears that gun control is advancing in Colorado:

Limits on the size of ammunition magazines and universal background checks passed the Colorado House on Monday, during a second day of emotional debates that has drawn attention from the White House as lawmakers try to address recent mass shootings.

The bills were among four that the Democratic-controlled House passed amid strong resistance from Republicans, who were joined by a few Democrats to make some of the votes close.

I’m not going to advocate that gun owners in Colorado start betting state Senators to vote against the bills, obviously that tactic hasn’t delivered any goods so far. Instead I’m going to urge gun owners in Colorado to make it known that they will not comply with any new gun control laws. Few things stand to embarrass a politician more than blatant disobedience by the general populace. Such blatant disobedience helps to tear down the illusion that the state enjoys the support of the people and the state needs to keep that illusion alive. Because of this need the state is less likely to pass legislation that it knows will be openly ignored by the general populace. I believe it would be more productive to inform Senators in Colorado that they can pass gun control laws but those laws will be openly disobeyed.