Bennet filibusters, calls for stricter guns laws, points to Colorado as example

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet believes the nation should look to Colorado for solutions about curbing gun violence.

As part of a marathon filibuster on the Senate floor, Bennet and other Democrats fought for stricter gun laws.

In 2013, only months after Aurora, the legislature passed laws that require a background check for every gun sale statewide and limits magazine capacity to 15 rounds.

“In stark contrast to what the Colorado legislature did after the Aurora shooting, this Congress has done nothing after Newtown, after Aurora, after Orlando, done nothing,” Bennet said Wednesday night.

Three years ago in Denver, Democrats controlled both houses of the state legislature and the controversial legislation was passed without any Republican support.

“The public didn’t support it either,” El Paso County GOP spokesman Daniel Cole said. “State senators John Morse and Angela Giron who sponsored those proposals ended up getting recalled.”

Democratic State Sen. Michael Merrifield hopes Orlando is a tipping point.

“The term mass shooting has become way too common in our vocabulary,” Merrifield said. I’m a gun owner, I’m a hunter, I get it. These are reasonable restrictions for the safety of the general public.

Cole argues a filibuster on the floor in Washington is not the answer.

“What we’re seeing from the Democrats in the Congress is a typical knee-jerk response to a tragedy like this,” Cole said. “They want to implement that have already been implemented in states with no positive effect.”

GOP State Sen. Kent Lambert told NewsChannel 13 the debate in 2013 was not bipartisan as the votes were divided along party lines.