http://www.rockymountainnews.com/election/0721safe.shtml
100,000 sign SAFE's petition for gun-show background checks
By Carla Crowder
Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
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SAFE Colorado has collected 100,000 signatures in its drive to require background checks at gun shows.
The ballot initiative pushed by SAFE Colorado would require everyone who sells a gun at a gun show to perform a background check on the buyer.
Under present law, only sales by federally licensed dealers are subject to background checks, allowing juveniles and people with criminal backgrounds to obtain guns at gun shows. It's known as the gun-show loophole.
The names still must be certified by the secretary of state's office as registered voters. To make certain it has the 62,438 certified signatures required to get the issue on the November ballot, the gun-control group is continuing its petition drive.
Pro-gun groups, which have unsuccessfully challenged the ballot's title every step of the way so far, will keep fighting the measure. The next step likely will be a challenge to the validity of the signatures.
"I expected them to gather that number of signatures sooner than they actually did," said Denver attorney Hugo Teufel III, who is representing the National Rifle Association in fighting the measure.
"The question is how many of those are valid signatures?"
The deadline for turning petitions into the secretary of state's office is Aug. 7.
One reason for SAFE's continued push for more signatures is that the effort has been all-volunteer, rare for Colorado ballot initiatives. Volunteers are more likely to make mistakes in gathering names, so SAFE will keep up the effort.
"We're going to continue to collect signatures because there are people out there who haven't had the opportunity to show their support for this initiative yet, and we want to get every signature we can," said John Head, co-founder of SAFE Colorado.
SAFE Colorado had raised $203,000 by July 1, the last reporting deadline.
Although the NRA and several statewide gun-rights groups have challenged the initiative in court, only one opposition campaign has registered with the secretary of state's office.
The Common Sense Campaign, registered by Aimee Rathburn, executive director of the Colorado State Shooting Association, has not collected any money. The shooting association's focus is on legislative races, she said.
Contact Carla Crowder at (303) 892-2742 or crowderc@RockyMountainNews.com.
© Copyright, Denver Publishing Co
100,000 sign SAFE's petition for gun-show background checks
By Carla Crowder
Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SAFE Colorado has collected 100,000 signatures in its drive to require background checks at gun shows.
The ballot initiative pushed by SAFE Colorado would require everyone who sells a gun at a gun show to perform a background check on the buyer.
Under present law, only sales by federally licensed dealers are subject to background checks, allowing juveniles and people with criminal backgrounds to obtain guns at gun shows. It's known as the gun-show loophole.
The names still must be certified by the secretary of state's office as registered voters. To make certain it has the 62,438 certified signatures required to get the issue on the November ballot, the gun-control group is continuing its petition drive.
Pro-gun groups, which have unsuccessfully challenged the ballot's title every step of the way so far, will keep fighting the measure. The next step likely will be a challenge to the validity of the signatures.
"I expected them to gather that number of signatures sooner than they actually did," said Denver attorney Hugo Teufel III, who is representing the National Rifle Association in fighting the measure.
"The question is how many of those are valid signatures?"
The deadline for turning petitions into the secretary of state's office is Aug. 7.
One reason for SAFE's continued push for more signatures is that the effort has been all-volunteer, rare for Colorado ballot initiatives. Volunteers are more likely to make mistakes in gathering names, so SAFE will keep up the effort.
"We're going to continue to collect signatures because there are people out there who haven't had the opportunity to show their support for this initiative yet, and we want to get every signature we can," said John Head, co-founder of SAFE Colorado.
SAFE Colorado had raised $203,000 by July 1, the last reporting deadline.
Although the NRA and several statewide gun-rights groups have challenged the initiative in court, only one opposition campaign has registered with the secretary of state's office.
The Common Sense Campaign, registered by Aimee Rathburn, executive director of the Colorado State Shooting Association, has not collected any money. The shooting association's focus is on legislative races, she said.
Contact Carla Crowder at (303) 892-2742 or crowderc@RockyMountainNews.com.
© Copyright, Denver Publishing Co