GOP forced to end deeply unpopular recall of lawmaker fighting for gun safety

Notch another win for the good guys.

Colorado Republicans are giving up on an effort to recall a Democratic lawmaker who was fighting to pass gun control legislation — after the effort failed to get enough support in the state.

The Democratic lawmaker, state Rep. Thomas Sullivan, is fighting for gun control legislation in the state House. Sullivan lost his son to the mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, back in 2012. Specifically, Sullivan was pushing for a “red flag” law that would allow for the seizure of guns from people judges determine to be threats.

The vindictive effort to recall Sullivan required a certain number of signatures to get a recall on the ballot. Those seeking to recall Sullivan needed to meet that signature requirement by July 12.

But proponents for the recall were worried they were not going to meet that threshold, according to the Denver Post, and have since dropped the recall effort.

Colorado Republican Party Vice Chair Kristi Burton Brown, who was helping lead the recall effort, wrote a passive-aggressive Facebook post announcing the end to the recall.

She blamed gun control groups for being “so scared” of the recall that they “pulled out all the stops” to defend Sullivan.

Of course, she took no responsibility for the fact that her side couldn’t even get enough signatures to launch the recall effort, let alone help it succeed were it ever to make it to a vote.

Instead, she claimed that she will now move her sights to recall different Democratic lawmakers in the state.

“The best strategies are unified strategies and, in order to accomplish the most good in the shortest time we have decided to pull essential resources from this recall and free up volunteers to help finish the National Popular Vote petition effort and to focus on recalling Democrat Senators who are not up for re-election in 2020,” Brown wrote.

But judging by how poorly this effort went, Brown likely has her work cut out for her.

It’s something supporters of Sullivan pointed out in a statement after Brown dropped the recall effort.

“If there was any chance of this recall succeeding, they wouldn’t be running away from it, and their statement shows that they learned nothing from this failed attempt,” Matthew McGovern, executive director of the Democrats’ House Majority Project, told ColoradoPolitics.com. “We hope that they will cease this endless election cycle and let voters decide Colorado’s future during normal elections, but we are ready to beat them again if they launch additional recalls.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.