Last week, Cam wrote about a claim made by a Colorado Sun columnist that blames Republicans for the state’s supposedly out-of-control violent crime issues. As he noted, though, Republicans are the minority party in the state. They have been for quite some time.

Now, the argument makes no sense at all, and while the writer’s fellow anti-gunners loved what she wrote, a lot of people took issue with it. After all, it’s a ridiculous claim to make.

Rather than just move on or even acknowledge she made a mistake, she’s doubling down on it.

Last week, I authored a column about why Coloradans should expect high rates of gun violence to continue. I also suggested Republicans were disproportionately responsible for this outcome.

As you might expect, public response fell mostly along party lines.

Many Coloradans thanked me, but Republicans were big mad. How dare I suggest they are the problem when Democrats have been at the helm of Colorado politics for years? Also, if the Democrat’s policies on gun safety worked, then gun violence would stop, so they said.

Countless responses to this effect came in, with one anonymous email to The Colorado Sun summing it up as, “Zornio is right to be concerned about the staggering rise in violent crime across the state over the past decade, but she’s off-target by blaming Republicans for the increased danger that Coloradans are facing. Democrats are in the driver’s seat in Colorado, and they’re the ones leading the state off a cliff when it comes to crime and public safety.”

Nope. Here’s why.

Oh, this is going to be good.

Republicans are correct that Democrats have been in Colorado’s supermajority for a handful of years now. They are also correct that during this time Democrats have introduced a number of gun safety regulations. In the 2024 legislative session alone, Democrats passed eight new gun laws. These included new permit requirements for gun sellers, new restrictions on concealed carry laws and bans on guns at schools, voting booths and the state Capitol.

But Republicans are dead wrong if they think that a short tenure of Democratic leadership would immediately reverse all gun violence after decades of laxity on guns thanks to the NRA-backed Republican Party. That’s absurd. Even still, gun violence is at least starting to level off, albeit at high levels, so perhaps all those brand-spanking new laws are at least starting to take effect after all. Change doesn’t happen overnight.

No, change doesn’t happen overnight.

Let’s note a few things here. First, Colorado has been a pretty blue state since at least 2007. Since then, Republicans have controlled one chamber of the legislature for a total of six of those 14 years. The last time that happened, however, was in 2018. Since then, it’s been all blue, all the time.

So from 2007 on, Republicans have lacked the power to expand gun rights at all. The best they could have done is prevent gun control from passing, but the Aurora shooting in 2012 made even that a lot more difficult. That was immediately followed by a number of new gun control measures such as magazine restrictions.

New gun control was on the books and guess what happened. Between 2013 and 2022, the homicide rate in Colorado went up 95 percent.

During that time, Democrats control much of the lawmaking mechanisms. They’ve been able to pass gun control pretty easily for the last five years and were able to pass it pretty regularly before then. Republicans, however, haven’t been able to repeal anything.

So how are they responsible?

Oh, it seems they’re responsible because they like guns.

But riddle me this: What do you think is more effective at reducing gun violence? Bragging about big guns like Republicans do or talking about gun safety like Democrats? Just look at Rep. Lauren Boebert. She doesn’t give a flying saucer about gun safety. If it were up to her, all Americans would be strapping loaded pistols to their hip and letting their kids play with rifles on this year’s Christmas card. Hell, she’s so gun-happy, I wouldn’t put it past her to challenge someone to an actual duel at dawn if it would gain her enough likes on social media.

Except duels are illegal.

Owning a gun, however, isn’t, and trying to equate gun ownership with dueling–and duels didn’t just involve firearms. They also involved swords and knives fairly regularly, too–really shows just how unhinged this writer apparently is.

Of course, she’s also trying to blame the minority party that hasn’t had control of the governor’s office since 2007 and hasn’t really had a handle on both chambers of the legislature since 2004. She can’t be that hinged, I suppose.

Democrats have held the reins of power throughout the skyrocketing crime in Colorado. To try to blame Republicans simply because they like guns is idiotic, especially as liberals are buying more and more firearms these days. If that’s the case, then they’re to blame, too.

So to writer Trish Zornio, I simply say, riddle me this: Just how deluded do you need to be to keep trying to blame the minority party for a problem they had no power to create?