What are the most effective Colorado organizations fighting for 2A rights?

[RobertJordan]

I've been dormant on this forum for many years, but in light of the recent election we had here in Colorado I think the 2A community is going to need to have all-hands-on-deck to fight any infringements on our rights.

I'm a GOA and NRA life member, and a SAF and CSSA member. Our NRA lobbyist covers several different states (7 I think), and I don't see anything from GOA here. CSSA is a good organization for what it is, but it could use a reinvigorated leadership (several board seats open and the president resigning after this year). Steve Schreiner's organization (think it's called the Firearms Coalition of Colorado or something like that) has done great work and Steve spends a ton of time hanging around the Capitol doing important in-person lobbying, but he is an older gentleman and I think he's slowly winding down his involvement. Both CSSA and Schreiner's organization lack a modern internet and social media presence.

I wanted to solicit opinions from this forum: what organizations are fighting for our rights most effectively in Colorado? I'm all for supporting multiple organizations, but the best chance we have to fight the upcoming infringements is to have one primary organization scheduling events and doing outreach, so we can all speak with one voice.

I'm looking forward to your feedback.

[cstone]

The groups that come to my mind:

Basic Freedom Defense Fund (BFDF)
https://www.basicfreedomdefensefund.org

El Paso County Freedom Defense Committee ( I am not sure this group is still active)

Pueblo Freedom and Rights
pueblofreedomandrights@gmail.com

The 72nd General Assembly is controlled by the Democratic Party. The judiciary is dominated by the Democratic Party. The current governor is a progressive leftist that wants Colorado to be more like California. Given that the GA is likely to give Mr. Polis what he wants, and the courts will rubber stamp the Constitutionality of those laws, which "one voice" do you believe our representatives will be listening to?

If we don't begin winning elections in Colorado, the infringement of our rights will become normal and accepted except by those who will not comply.

Be safe.

[wyome]

Vote
Support political parties/candidates that support your views. Lobbyists ain't gonna change minds...we need to change butts in the seats

[Zundfolge]

The most effective in Colorado? Clearly that's the NRA (so yeah, we're screwed).


If we don't begin winning elections in Colorado, the infringement of our rights will become normal and accepted except by those who will not comply.


Demographics is victory .... and the left has displaced us with their promise of legal weed. We've had a couple hundred thousand useless people move here in the last couple years.
https://www.sparefoot.com/moving/moving-to-denver-co/where-new-residents-of-denver-are-moving-from/

[RobertJordan]

Vote
Support political parties/candidates that support your views. Lobbyists ain't gonna change minds...we need to change butts in the seats

I get how voting and elections work. That's not really what I'm asking about. We're also not going to have another shot at that for 2 and 4 years.

I'm not sure how you can look at the political landscape in this country and contend that lobbying isn't effective. Beyond that, trade groups and advocacy groups are about a lot more than lobbying, they also coordinate fundraising, marketing, outreach, and organizing events.

[RobertJordan]

There is of course, RMGO, but it's managed like very strong chemotherapy. It might kill some of the bad stuff, but it'll also kill about as much of you in the process.

While I admire those still in that fight, not much you can do to stop this gov. $20 million, hell I don't think $500 million would stop what's coming. Firearm community as a whole is going to get raped by Polis.

And he's going to like it.

Efforts to reach the SCOTUS are still good sources for funding, though, where a return may be realized. (Independence Institute comes to mind).

The CSSA is also part of that lawsuit against Boulder with the Independence Institute. II does great work and scholarship, but they aren't primarily an advocacy organization. From what I can tell, RMGO was a marketing organization above anything else. Still, people got so excited about it and sent Dudley a ton of money. Imagine if people could get that excited about an organization that was actually working for them. I hope we can get to that point here.

[RobertJordan]

The groups that come to my mind:

Basic Freedom Defense Fund (BFDF)
https://www.basicfreedomdefensefund.org

El Paso County Freedom Defense Committee ( I am not sure this group is still active)

Pueblo Freedom and Rights
pueblofreedomandrights@gmail.com

The 72nd General Assembly is controlled by the Democratic Party. The judiciary is dominated by the Democratic Party. The current governor is a progressive leftist that wants Colorado to be more like California. Given that the GA is likely to give Mr. Polis what he wants, and the courts will rubber stamp the Constitutionality of those laws, which "one voice" do you believe our representatives will be listening to?

If we don't begin winning elections in Colorado, the infringement of our rights will become normal and accepted except by those who will not comply.

Be safe.

I checked out the BFDF website and none of the links up top go to anything. Looks like it's not active. Thanks for sending these links though, as I hadn't heard of any of these organizations.

I think it's interesting that Colorado, a relative small state by population, seems to have really localized advocacy networks for firearms (at least based on what you posted). It's sad that the CSSA isn't more popular and active. I think one thing that's been holding them back is that their meetings are all held in Lone Tree. I think they could be more effective if they alternated meetings between a north-of-Denver location and a south-of-Denver location, plus had at least one meeting a year on the Western Slope.

[RobertJordan]

The most effective in Colorado? Clearly that's the NRA (so yeah, we're screwed).



Demographics is victory .... and the left has displaced us with their promise of legal weed. We've had a couple hundred thousand useless people move here in the last couple years.
https://www.sparefoot.com/moving/moving-to-denver-co/where-new-residents-of-denver-are-moving-from/

It seems like our NRA board members from Colorado aren't on the Wayne train, so I wonder if that hurts us when NRA decides where to take a stand on things. The NRA brand is in the dumps right now, so I'm not sure any of their involvement would really help us. Despite the influx of people you reference, there is a HUGE number of unaffiliated voters in Colorado. There are also a ton of people who don't vote. Demographics certainly has a huge influence, but turnout actually determines victory.

[Eric P]

I've been discussing with the libs at work asking why if they hate trump and fear his little orange man army, why they support eliminating the only tools they have for resisting. I've got most on board to buying an AR. I constantly say, how can you fight a revolution when you are disarmed?

Reverse psychology works. Get them to support 2nd ammendment to resist trump and the fascist.

[Lippy Laroux]

Given the big cities have been over run by NeoCommunists from Falicornia we will need an Electoral college system for the counties in this state or we will never win again.

[DireWolf]

I've been discussing with the libs at work asking why if they hate trump and fear his little orange man army, why they support eliminating the only tools they have for resisting. I've got most on board to buying an AR. I constantly say, how can you fight a revolution when you are disarmed?

Reverse psychology works. Get them to support 2nd ammendment to resist trump and the fascist.My perspective on this topic has changed over the years, and no longer believe this is a wise approach in general.

Reason being, many of the TDS bots and other vehement leftists, etc. exhibit traits which make them highly unsuitable for firearms ownership, and in at least some cases, they would likely be a constant danger to everyone around them. A rare few will even admit this.

To cap that, going out of your way to arm people who are both willfully intolerant of any statement/comment/perspective which differs from their own, and who make it a point to be offended at any and all such things (even when on behalf of others and actually have no idea why they're offended), even aside from any other potential mental health considerations, IMO, is just a bad idea. (especially if they have a natural avoidance of the topic as a result of their programming).

[Irving]

^ I disagree with that interpretation of the situation.

[DireWolf]

And I find that disagreement completely reasonable and respect your opinion, though I stand by mine as stated.

Which is kinda the point ;)


ETA: I'm not referring to introducing new shooters into the sports in general, my statements were specifically regarding doing that in cases where the aforementioned personality traits have been demonstrated.

[RobertJordan]

I generally think that growing the hobby is great, although the prospect of armed left-wing outrage mobs is not super exciting to me.

I'm not getting a ton of responses to my original question, and the people who have addressed it were not super encouraging.

I'm concerned that there isn't one single group that will be taking point in fighting for our rights in Colorado. I'm surprised that more people don't seem to share that concern.

[cstone]

I’m super surprised you were looking for encouragement. Money and votes in Colorado and we are out gunned. What we do have is compliance or a failure to with the coming leftist wave of infringement.

[RobertJordan]

I’m super surprised you were looking for encouragement. Money and votes in Colorado and we are out gunned. What we do have is compliance or a failure to with the coming leftist wave of infringement.

I'm not personally looking for encouragement. I'm wondering why there hasn't been more emphasis in the Colorado 2A community about identifying and getting behind a single organization.

What I'm seeing from most people on this thread is fatalism. We'd do better if we had an organization out there telling our story, and organizing the people on our side. Sounds like everyone on this forum has given up. I was told this was the best Colorado firearms forum, but I'm not hearing a lot of fight from this group.

Colorado elected a Republican senator four years ago. Despite the wave of Dem victories in the last election, all of the fiscally extreme ballot measures failed. The oil and gas industry doesn't have a favorable perception but fought smart and avoided some very adverse regulation. There are still tons of unaffiliated voters in this state, but they aren't going to hear our side of the argument until we can get our acts together behind one group to tell the story for us.

I can see how you think we're out gunned with money, but we're not being smart about this and pooling our money with one organization.

[RobertJordan]

We can't just go start a new group either - because of the funding and legal requirements.

I 100% agree with this. I think a possible solution might be under our noses in the Colorado State Shooting Association. It's an organization that has credibility, is already fighting some legal battles (Boulder), and sanctions shooting competitions across the state. However, it's also a shell of its former self: several vacant board positions, and the president is resigning after 2019. I once showed up 15 minutes late to a meeting, and guess what? Meeting already over--zero turnout, so they just voted on club business and left. If the board were stacked with passionate people with a more business-minded tilt it could be a vast improvement. Their leadership, as far as I understand it, has been very attorney-heavy. That can be good some some things, but certainly not for branding, marketing, education, and storytelling.

I do corporate restructuring for a living, so organizational changes like this aren't foreign to me. But then again, this isn't a business and maybe I'm missing something. If I'm not, I think it's a really good opportunity for the pro 2A community. Just need to get the right people together.

BTW: foxtrot, I see you are on the Western Slope. The CSSA has done a terrible job with outreach to members outside of the south Denver Metro area. They should have absolutely been having meetings on the Western Slope this whole time.

[Zundfolge]

I'm not personally looking for encouragement. I'm wondering why there hasn't been more emphasis in the Colorado 2A community about identifying and getting behind a single organization.

The fundamental problem there is that Dudley has salted that earth already.

You may be correct about CSSA. I'm willing to hear whatever your ideas are for whipping that organization into shape.

[def90]

A lot of people want to blame weed for the demographics change here in Co.. I'm not sure I buy it..

Anyway, if it's true we should all be pushing hard for legalization at the Federal level.. This would in theory stop the influx and at the same time many of the people that came here for weed and are broke (due to Colorados high cost of living) and miss their families back home would likely leave.

That and the Republicans in this state need to pull their heads out of their asses and look outside of the inner sanctum of the party elite to find someone electable.

[def90]

You may be correct about CSSA. I'm willing to hear whatever your ideas are for whipping that organization into shape.

I'm interested as well.. I joined them years ago so that I could get a CMP Garand, never received anything from them other than a membership card.