Setting: Fade into a rural ranch house. It is night time. A group of resistance fighters are hunkered down in a cellar with a dim light bulb and a short wave radio.

The radio crackles and a voice begins, "This is Free America, with messages for our friends trapped behind The Line".

"My heart is wounded by a monotonous languor"
"My heart is wounded by a monotonous languor"


"John has a long mustache"
"John has a long mustache"

The long awaited coded message received, the resistance fighters quickly gather their coats, bags, and guns and climb up the ladder, closing the hidden trap door and slipping into the night.

OK, nothing quite that dramatic has happened here (yet ) but now that it is T + 7 Days since "the wall" went up and we became "trapped behind the lines" I thought I'd post an update as to where our "resistance" movement stands now.

For those that may not be aware, a two-pronged counter-offensive to fight the recently enacted anti-gun laws in in motion.

The first prong of the counter-offensive is a law suit seeking to prove that two of the anti-gun laws are unconstitutional. The law suit was initiated by a think tank called the Independence Institute Independence Institute and Constitutional Attorney Dave Kopel. Mr. Kopel is well known for his long involvement in Pro-2A legal actions, most notably for his involvement in the Heller case.

A large number of plaintiffs have signed onto the law suit including the majority of Colorado Sheriffs, many gun related businesses such as gun stores and shooting ranges, outdoor guide groups, ranching associations, some physically disabled individuals, and Magpul industries... just to name a few.

A little over a month ago I attended a fund raising event for the law suit. Before I arrived I was concerned that I might only see, oh, maybe the same 75 or 100 faces I see at local gun shows. However, when I arrived I was pleasantly surprised to see the parking lot was jam packed full... at least as full as some gun shows held there and likely even more full than that.

I didn't pre-order my ticket for the event so when I got inside I found the 500 reserved seats were already taken, but I was more than happy to stand with the many others.

John Caldara, President of the Independence Institute, Dave Kopel, and three of the Colorado Sheriffs signed onto the lawsuit were scheduled to speak, along with several local politicians and local personalities.

At one point during the talks by the Sheriffs a county map of Colorado was held up for all to see. The counties in red represented the Sheriffs who had signed onto the law suit, the white areas represented the county Sheriffs who had not signed on. The map was a sea of a red, with only a few specs of white to interrupt it. It is worth noting that 55 of the 62 Sheriffs in Colorado have signed onto this law suit.

Two of the Sheriffs held two stacks of paper for the attendees to see. The larger stacks for each of them were perhaps 5 or 6 inches tall and were emails and letters supporting their stance. The short stacks were much smaller, and represented those who, as one Sheriff laughed about, instructed them to "do something that was anatomically impossible to do".

Dave Kopel's talk was quite informational and gave the basis for the law suit as well as it's status. The law suit is seeking to prove that two of the anti-gun laws passed, specifically the magazine capacity ban and private sale background checks, are unconstitutional. Interestingly, one of the foundations for the argument against the mag. cap. ban is that it violates Title II of the ADA Americans with Disabilities Act.

When asked whether an injunction to prevent the laws from going into effect would be attempted Mr. Kopel said they were looking into it... but as the laws did go into effect I can only assume that either it was attempted and denied, or that a strategic decision not to attempt it was made.

Mr. Kopel relayed the fact that a conference meeting with the District Court Magistrate had been scheduled. While not conclusive, he felt that the fact that the conference was scheduled so quickly after the law suit was filed was a good sign that the Feds recognized the importance of this case and the need to "fast track" it.

I had "heard" that there may be door prizes at the event, and the admission ticket along with any other tickets we bought would be good for it. When I stopped a young woman walking through the crowd selling tickets to ask about what the door prize was she said she thought it might be "for a magazine or something". I'm embarrased to admit that I thought she meant a magazine subscription and while I wasn't interested in one it was for a good cause so I bought three more tickets.

Imagine my excitement when, at the end of the event, our local Sheriff started to read out the winning ticket numbers and started handing out... you guessed it... Magpul Gen 3 magazines. And guess who's number was called first... yup, unlucky me! How cool was it to be handed an item by a local Sheriff or politican that was going to be banned a month later!!!

Magpul had donated 40 magazines as door prizes for this event.

Oh, and the final tally for the night was 815 attendees and @ $12,000 was raised, above the target of $10,000.

Earlier, a couple other fund raising events have been held with similar results and more had been scheduled but with the recent wild fires in the state I suspect that the focus on fund raising has slipped.

Last weekend I attended another fund raising event sponsored by Free Colorado and featured Magpul. Prior to the enactment of the laws, Magpul gave away 1500 magazines and had more for sale. Here is a link to report on this event:

Farewell to Arms Magpul event

The second prong of the counter-offensive involves the recall of some of the politicians who were involved with ramming the laws through the legislature.

Initially, four of the politicians were targeted for recall efforts, however a strategic decision was made to focus the efforts on two of them at this time. The two State Senators targeted for recall are Colorado Senate President John Morse and State Senator Angela Giron.

The recall effort is a grass-roots movement and the volunteers who gathered signatures for the petitions were mostly locals. There was a professional group brought in to help with getting signatures, but they did not comprise the majority of the petition seekers.

It is important to note that, just as when the anti-gun laws were rammed through with help from Michael Bloomburg's group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the effort to protect Morse & Giron from recall is also being funded by them.

During the weeks the volunteers were gathering signatures a local radio station was running ads warning citizens that a group was going door to door to gather private information for fraudulent purposes and stated that some involved were convicted sex offenders. Patently false, as in a bold-faced lie with absolutely no evidence to support it.

Mailers were also sent out in Senator Morse's district trying to scare people away from signing the recall petition.

Despite Bloomburg's well funded lies and scare tactics both petition efforts were successful in gathering far more than the minimum number of signatures needed.

Since the signatures were gathered a number of them were discarded for a number of reasons, mostly signers who weren't eligible to sign as they didn't reside in the recall district or had moved but not changed their registration.

The group in support of John Morse sent out door knockers to check to see if petition signers had actually signed the petition and if they were eligible to sign it... in effect harassing them.

They did find 50 signatures which, allegedly, were fraudulent... but even with the discarded signatures there are still more than enough signatures needed for the recall to proceed.

The next phase is that the group supporting John Morse and Angela Giron attacked the petitions as invalid because they didn't include wording about voting for an alternative candidate but the Colorado Secretary of State ruled that the petitions met the intent of the law.

New legal challenges to the petitions are expected, however if they are not successful the recall election may be held in Colorado.

I'd like to point out that while the ability to recall elected state officials was introduced in the state in the early 1900s, this has been the first successful attempt.

I fully expect more Bloomburg money to flood into the state prior to the recall election in support of Morse and Giron.

I decided to start this thread partly to inform those who may not be up to date on what is going on here in Colorado... but also to hopefully show that all is not lost.

No doubt about it, elections have consequences and many Colorado citizens are now facing the consequences of the elected reps they supported.

If you haven't already, please consider joining the NRA and/or any of a number of other Pro-2A groups. Also, if you are able, please consider making a donation to help fund the law suit and other legal actions sure to follow.

We lost the first battle... but make no mistake about it... the fight is not over!

Updates to follow as the resistance is able to make contact.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Modern Day Savage,

OK, update from the resistance.

I stand corrected in my above post regarding the law suit injunction, and I have stricken my conclusion.

There has, in fact, been a motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and Injunction filed. In fact the original motion had been filed several weeks ago, and there have been answers and responses filed since.

As I am not an attorney and I have only skimmed the motions and responses I won't endeavor to give either a "play by play" or a generalization of the motions and responses.

As a layman with an admittedly imperfect understanding of the legal wranglings, the premises of this motion for injunction, as well as the law suit itself, have gotten VERY INTERESTING and could potentially have FAR REACHING CONSEQUENCES not only as these laws pertain to Colorado, but to other states as well.

In my layman's opinion, the Plaintiffs attorneys have presented a very logical well thought out argument and done an admirable job of eviscerating the Governor's defense... and exposing the problems with the laws' vagueness.

The Governor has requested the Colorado Supreme Court's clarification on certain definitions and issues pertaining to 1224 & 1229.

A Federal Court hearing on the injunction is scheduled for later today so I would expect further developments in the case.

Just saw the injunction filing, so glad you mentioned the correction. Keep updating!

I'm curious to hear what happens today. Thanks for the update MDS!

Plaintiffs & Defense attorneys reach agreements, Judge rejects need for an injunction.

Challenge to states new gun regs remain, but agreement reached on some

T+19 Days since THE WALL went up- UPDATE FROM THE COLORADO RESISTANCE

Despite the attempts by Morse and Giron to avoid facing a recall election, a judge has ruled against them and Governor Hickenlooper has set September 10, 2013 as the date of the recall elections!

Morse, Giron recall elections set for Sept. 10

Morse, Giron recall elections set for Sept. 10
By Megan Schrader Published: July 18, 2013 | 5:25 pm

Months of political infighting will come to a head in central Colorado Springs and Pueblo on Sept. 10 when voters will decide whether to keep their senators in office or toss them out in favor of replacements.

Senate President John Morse and Sen. Angela Giron found themselves at the center of a battle over gun rights after they supported legislation during the 2013 session that banned high-capacity magazines and required background checks on all gun sales.

After a Denver district judge ruled Thursday that thousands of signatures gathered to force a recall election of the two Democrats were valid, Gov. John Hickenlooper set the election dates for both in mid-September.

Giron and Morse announced Thursday there will be no appeal of the decision, making them the first state-level elected officials to face a recall election.

"I have dedicated my life to public service. I look forward to this election," Morse said in a statement. "I have already been elected twice, I am excited by the prospect of being elected a third time."

For now, the manager of Morse's campaign said he will begin reaching out to voters and prepping for the election.

"It's going to require a lot of outreach on the part of the campaign and a lot less focus on what he's going to do in 2014, so in a way it's unfortunate," said Kjersten Forseth, Morse's chief of staff who is now running his and Giron's campaigns.

Forseth said it's unfortunate that a special-interest group is able to use recall elections to influence the legislative process.

But the group that collected more than 10,000 valid signatures to remove Morse from office says it is a grass-roots organization of constituents exercising their constitutional right to remove an elected official from office.

Morse has represented Senate District 11 for seven years, and the 2014 legislative session would be his last before he reached term limits. The recall election - if successful - would cut only a few months off his final term.

Giron has served four years in office and could run for another term in 2014.

A Republican candidate has lined up to appear on the recall ballots for both Morse and Giron.

The ballot will first ask if the candidates should be removed from office, and then a second question will ask, if so, which of the following candidates should replace them.

No Democrats have filed against the incumbents.

But the second part of the ballot played prominently in the legal challenges supporters of Giron and Morse filed.

Attorney Mark Grueskin argued on their behalf that the petitions circulated to demand a recall election didn't include language informing voters a replacement would also be elected.

Hyatt ruled Thursday that the constitution didn't require that language and even if it did, the election would still be held.

"The court specifically finds that the recall process involves fundamental rights of a republican form of government which the people have reserved unto themselves," Hyatt said, citing a Supreme Court ruling. "A public interest is not served by endless delay of conducting recall elections inconsistent with the statutory framework."

Hyatt said the clock for setting an election date began ticking Thursday.

The county clerks from both El Paso and Pueblo counties requested the election date by Sept. 10, and Hickenlooper agreed.

Contact Megan Schrader

719-286-0644

Twitter: @CapitolSchrader

quote:

Forseth said it's unfortunate that a special-interest group is able to use recall elections to influence the legislative process.

It's you, Mr. Morse and Ms. Giron, who are special interest tools and party whores. You consider your constituents a nuisance. These regular people just followed the constitution and put you on the ballot because you sold us out. The point of elections is exactly to influence the legislative process and when our representatives don't do what they are sent to the capitol to do, they lose elections. When their foul-ups are beyond irritating and become an immediate problem, they get recalled.

On the bright side the recall election date has been set. I think it is worth noting that, despite the fact that Colorado citizens have had the ability to recall a state elected official for almost 100 years, the recall elections of Morse & Giron will be the first use of this power. I believe that speaks volumes about how passionate and deep seated the emotions and convictions have run here since the anti-gun laws were passed.

I recently caught an interview with the pro-2A candidate who is challenging Giron, but I don't recall his name. I'll try to get that info & post it.

Bernie Herpin is the pro-2A Republican challenging Morse for Senate District 11. He has been a member of the community for many years, previously served on the City Council and as president of the Pikes Peak Firearms Coalition PPFC

Here is Bernie Herpin's website:

Bernie Herpin

Now for the reality check: It probably should come as no surprise that election campaigns require money. Mayor Michael Bloomburg has already pumped huge amounts of money into the state to ram these anti-gun laws through, and he has been funding the Morse/Giron efforts to stop those of us opposing these laws. I predict that Bloomburg will pump even more money into the state to fund radio ads, mailers, and websites in support of Morse/Giron.

I haven't independently verified this, but according to Bernie Herpin, election laws cap individual donations to him at $200... HOWEVER, as the recall candidates, Morse & Giron have no limits to the amount of donations they can accept. With Bloomburg backing them their potential for raising campaign donations outstrips Herpins.

I don't know Bernie Herpin personally, I only know him from interviews and reputation. But he has a solid history of fighting anti-gun laws and pushing for smaller government.

The resistance could use some help... please consider donating to Bernie Herpin's campaign and/ or to help fund the ongoing lawsuits!

All we gotta do is show up and vote. Morse, that arrogant prick is beyond belief...

T + 64 days since "the wall" went up and we became trapped behind the lines.

An update is long overdue on our status, so my apologies for not updating this thread sooner. We've been busy trying to raise funds and awareness of both the lawsuits and the recall elections.

As many may know, the recall elections have faced a series of legal challenges and interpretations & coupled with the recent voting law changes rammed through by the Democrats, have led to an almost daily, if not hourly, changes to the recall elections.

In a recent radio interview El Paso County Clerk Wayne Williams revealed that one day last week they had to change the recall election ballot 3 times as various rulings came down.

The recall elections were originally set up as mail-in ballot voting, and indeed, many mail-in ballots were mailed out to military personnel & residents out of the country during the election.

However, recent court rulings have forced changes to the ballot and according to County Clerk Williams there simply isn't enough time to make the required changes and mail out the ballots prior to the recall election... so, now the recall election has become a polling place election.

These changes have led to massive confusion by residents as to when the election is to be held, how to vote, as well as what polling places will be open. There is concern that many voters, unaware of the changes, will continue to wait for a mail-in ballot that will never arrive and they will miss their chance to vote.

Clerk Williams has made every effort to accommodate the ballot changes as well as to make it as easy as possible to vote. For those who already received early mail-in ballots, provisions have been made to allow the ballots. For those who qualify, both emergency ballots and absentee ballots will be allowed.

The official recall election voting date of Tuesday September 10, 2013 continues to be valid and ballots must be received no later than 19:00 that day... HOWEVER, please note that several polling places will be opened as early as Thursday September 5, 2013 for early voting on the Morse recall. My understanding is that voting for the recall of State Senator Angela Giron has already begun.

For the John Morse recall election polling place locations & times and other info such as a sample ballot please visit these links:

El Paso County Office of the Clerk & Recorder

El Paso County Elections

I had intended to provide a link for those interested in voting in the Angela Giron recall election, however there is no information posted on the Pueblo County government website. I find that curious, or perhaps more accurately, telling, that neither the home page nor the County Clerk & Recorder website have any information posted on the recall election... in the Democrat stronghold of Pueblo.

I'll see if I can do a little more digging to find that info.

All, this election is crucial... not just for Colorado, but as a bell weather for other states. The message that will be sent if these recalls are successful is crucial... but just as crucial is the message that will be sent if we are not successful. PLEASE, if you are qualified to do so, VOTE in these recall elections. Even if you are not able to vote in these elections we still need volunteers to man phone banks, knock on doors, and get the word out. And, yes, donations to fund these efforts are still needed.

The NRA stepped up and donated $109,000... however Morse & Giron have raised much more than their pro-gun challengers and, Mayor Bloomberg and a billionaire philanthropist have donated $600,000 of their own money. The bottom line is that the anti-gun supporters have raised MUCH more money than the pro-gun supporters.

Anything you can do to help this effort would be very much appreciated!

More to follow as the resistance is able to make contact...

http://fleetingsurvival.com/20...democracy-in-action/

Link to the video.

http://www.nranews.com/ginny/v...vote-our-freedoms--2

Charles, thanks for the video link. I think there is a bit more focus on the Morse recall so it gets more media attention... it was nice to see our Pueblo resistance fighters working on the Giron recall get some well deserved notice in the video!

I don't have the current numbers, but as of the first day of voting on the Morse recall there were 3580 ballots cast. Interestingly, I heard on a local radio interview that there were slightly more women than men casting ballots on the first day.

This next article is a bit disheartening to report. The article includes an interactive map that shows where the various donations for the recall effort have come from, the amounts, and the donor names. Obviously there are some donors and groups that support the pro-gun recall effort... but not nearly as many as the anti-gun supporters.

Not including the non-profits the anti-recall groups have raised $3.1 million where the pro-recall groups have raised $266,231.

Interactive map: Who donated to the Colorado recall election

For those who can vote in the Morse recall, keep in mind that early voting has started. Also, several of the polling locations will be open Saturday, as well as Monday, and obviously will be open on election day Tuesday September 10, 2013.

I've read several reports that indicate that there is no waiting at the polling locations... so you are in and out when you vote.

Don't get discouraged, the donations running 12:1 against are so disproportionate to the level of disgust as to be meaningless. They could spend $300 million and there's just simply not enough ad space to make a dent. They got this far knocking on doors and making signs in their garages for Goodness' sake, it's not about how slick and massaged is your message.

Just like the NRA video alludes, the recall activists are just regular guys who no one took seriously but hard headed will can and will win. The amount of money spent in politics has for a while been used as some sort of metric but I think this shows that once people genuinely wake up to the truth their minds can no longer be bought and manipulated.

Fight On Southern Colorado!

Charles, I woke up to the fact that money spent on elections typically does play a major role in the outcome about 3 or 4 election cycles ago.

But you are absolutely right in that the pro-recall supporters of this election are "regular" folks... and they have had a tremendous affect on this election and the message they are putting out.

I'm not willing to go so far as to deem the donation efforts of the anti-recall supporters as meaningless, but I'll also not willing to concede our efforts. I'm hoping this is a case where we buck the trend of the candidate with the largest war chest wins and David slays Goliath.

Thank you so much for your support, it really is appreciated!

Thanks for all the info and hard work you are doing MDS. If I lived in Pueblo or CS, I'd love to help. I've called all my friends in those towns to remind them to vote. Most already have.

There isn't much info on how the election is swinging, but I'm assuming that's because it's swinging the wrong way for the media, et al. Keep up the fight everyone, send them out on their asses.

thanks bigpond 73!

Early voting is over... today is D-day, ELECTION DAY!

As of right now, almost 13,000 votes have been cast in the Senate District 11 recall vote and heavy voter turn out is expected for today.

The early voting results are expected to be released 15 minutes after the polls close today. However, the ballots cast today will need to be sent out to be counted after the polls close. My prediction is that results will be reported either later Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning.

Now, the big question is whether the results will be contested or otherwise legally challenged. There have been some reports of ballots being requested and the requester then walks out with the ballot without returning them, leaving the question of whether this might be viewed as vote tampering or some other "irregularity".

There have also been reports of the anti-recall supporters using paid "protesters" to stir things up.

I think we would all like to see some finality to this ordeal .... but we have to be open to the possibility that even after the votes are counted the election results may be tied up by legal challenges.

More to come as we are able to make contact...

I'm sending you guys good thoughts. Show the bastards there are consequences for not listening to the people.

I'm checking back later tonite hoping to hear good news.

http://www.krdo.com/news/elect.../g0o8d7/-/index.html

Refresh this link every once in a while and it will give you up to date results.

Bump for the win!

WE GOT ONE... Morse conceded the district 11 race!

The Giron recall isn't looking good though.