What is interesting here is that this news was also in the Denver Post, which is understandable. But for a paper the size of the Times to pick this up indicates how much importance the liberals place on the gunshow "loophole".
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/070500ballot-gun.html
Colorado Court Clears Way for Gun Show Ballot Initiative
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
ENVER, July 4 -- The Colorado Supreme Court has cleared the way for voters to decide whether people who buy weapons at weekend gun shows from private dealers must undergo the same criminal background check that licensed dealers are required to conduct.
If the measure passes in November, Colorado could become the first state to close the so-called gun show loophole. A similar ballot measure is in the works for voters in Oregon. For now, the only state that conducts background checks for private sales is Florida, where state law gives counties the discretion to require them. Just a handful do.
Until the Colorado court's ruling, which was issued on Monday, the effort to place a ballot initiative before voters in November had stalled over challenges by gun-owners' rights groups.
But by dismissing the complaints, the court allowed proponents to proceed with the collection of the required 62,438 valid signatures by Aug. 7, the deadline.
If that goal is reached -- sponsors say they have already collected 67,000 signatures -- voters would have a chance to override the Republican-led State Legislature, which this year defeated a package of gun control measures that was supported by Gov. Bill Owens, a first-term Republican. One bill provided for background checks at gun shows.
"We were pretty confident about the outcome, but it would have been very hurtful if the court had not ruled our way," said Tom Mauser, political director for the group -- Sane Alternatives to the Firearms Epidemic, or SAFE -- that is sponsoring the ballot initiative. "It's a real relief to have this out of the way."
Recent independent polls -- three statewide and one in Colorado Springs, a generally conservative city -- have shown overwhelming support for the initiative, more than 80 percent, despite an enduring conflict nationally about background checks at weekend gun shows between groups favoring tighter restrictions on gun ownership and those favoring unfettered access to guns.
The Oregon measure, for which petition signatures are due on Friday, also enjoys strong public support, statewide polls show.
Licensed dealers are required by federal law to conduct the checks, but the law does not cover sales that typically take place at a weekend gun show, people selling private collections or a single gun that has been advertised.
Efforts to eliminate the exceptions have failed in Congress, as well as in several states, partly over concerns that checks take as long as three days, and weekend gun shows, where government surveys have found that a quarter of the vendors are not licensed, last only two.
Advocates of gun-owner rights also object to any new restrictions on gun ownership.
But the issue has a particularly emotional resonance in Colorado because of the mass killings 15 months ago at Columbine High School in Littleton, where a dozen students and a teacher were fatally shot and 23 others were wounded. All four weapons used by the teenage assailants, who also killed themselves, were bought through private sales at weekend gun shows, by intermediaries for the teenagers.
Two months after the shootings, a bipartisan coalition of state business and civic leaders formed the SAFE group to lobby the Legislature for Mr. Owens's measures.
Once they failed, the group turned to building support for the ballot initiative. Mr. Mauser, who is on leave from his job with the Colorado Department of Transportation, joined because his son, Daniel, was one of the students killed at Columbine High.
Mr. Owens and Attorney General Ken Salazar, a Democrat, were the first to sign the petition to get the initiative on the November ballot.
Mr. Mauser and other proponents of the ballot initiative said they anticipated at least one more hurdle before the initiative goes before the voters, a signature challenge.
The state conducts a random check of petition signatures, but groups opposed to the gun initiative, like the Colorado Shooting Sports Association, an affiliate of the National Rifle Association, are expected to mount their own review of the signatures to ensure that they represent legally registered voters in the state.
Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/070500ballot-gun.html
Colorado Court Clears Way for Gun Show Ballot Initiative
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
ENVER, July 4 -- The Colorado Supreme Court has cleared the way for voters to decide whether people who buy weapons at weekend gun shows from private dealers must undergo the same criminal background check that licensed dealers are required to conduct.
If the measure passes in November, Colorado could become the first state to close the so-called gun show loophole. A similar ballot measure is in the works for voters in Oregon. For now, the only state that conducts background checks for private sales is Florida, where state law gives counties the discretion to require them. Just a handful do.
Until the Colorado court's ruling, which was issued on Monday, the effort to place a ballot initiative before voters in November had stalled over challenges by gun-owners' rights groups.
But by dismissing the complaints, the court allowed proponents to proceed with the collection of the required 62,438 valid signatures by Aug. 7, the deadline.
If that goal is reached -- sponsors say they have already collected 67,000 signatures -- voters would have a chance to override the Republican-led State Legislature, which this year defeated a package of gun control measures that was supported by Gov. Bill Owens, a first-term Republican. One bill provided for background checks at gun shows.
"We were pretty confident about the outcome, but it would have been very hurtful if the court had not ruled our way," said Tom Mauser, political director for the group -- Sane Alternatives to the Firearms Epidemic, or SAFE -- that is sponsoring the ballot initiative. "It's a real relief to have this out of the way."
Recent independent polls -- three statewide and one in Colorado Springs, a generally conservative city -- have shown overwhelming support for the initiative, more than 80 percent, despite an enduring conflict nationally about background checks at weekend gun shows between groups favoring tighter restrictions on gun ownership and those favoring unfettered access to guns.
The Oregon measure, for which petition signatures are due on Friday, also enjoys strong public support, statewide polls show.
Licensed dealers are required by federal law to conduct the checks, but the law does not cover sales that typically take place at a weekend gun show, people selling private collections or a single gun that has been advertised.
Efforts to eliminate the exceptions have failed in Congress, as well as in several states, partly over concerns that checks take as long as three days, and weekend gun shows, where government surveys have found that a quarter of the vendors are not licensed, last only two.
Advocates of gun-owner rights also object to any new restrictions on gun ownership.
But the issue has a particularly emotional resonance in Colorado because of the mass killings 15 months ago at Columbine High School in Littleton, where a dozen students and a teacher were fatally shot and 23 others were wounded. All four weapons used by the teenage assailants, who also killed themselves, were bought through private sales at weekend gun shows, by intermediaries for the teenagers.
Two months after the shootings, a bipartisan coalition of state business and civic leaders formed the SAFE group to lobby the Legislature for Mr. Owens's measures.
Once they failed, the group turned to building support for the ballot initiative. Mr. Mauser, who is on leave from his job with the Colorado Department of Transportation, joined because his son, Daniel, was one of the students killed at Columbine High.
Mr. Owens and Attorney General Ken Salazar, a Democrat, were the first to sign the petition to get the initiative on the November ballot.
Mr. Mauser and other proponents of the ballot initiative said they anticipated at least one more hurdle before the initiative goes before the voters, a signature challenge.
The state conducts a random check of petition signatures, but groups opposed to the gun initiative, like the Colorado Shooting Sports Association, an affiliate of the National Rifle Association, are expected to mount their own review of the signatures to ensure that they represent legally registered voters in the state.
Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company