August 16, 2024 11:36 AM UTC

Two Republicans Launch Silly "2nd Amendment Caucus" for Reasons They Can't Articulate

• 7 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: An eagle-eyed reader pointed out that the statue featured prominently in the “Second Amendment Caucus” logo is no longer in that spot in front of the State Capitol.

That statue, which depicted a Civil War soldier who was part of the First Colorado Cavalry unit that took part in the infamous “Sand Creek Massacre,” was toppled by protestors in 2020 and is being replaced by a sculpture of a Native American woman mourning the atrocities of the Sand Creek Massacre.

In other words, including this image was no accident.

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Republicans in the micro-minority in the State House of Representatives don’t have the ability to do much of anything besides waste everyone’s time speaking about inane nonsense and engage in performative obstruction efforts. Them’s the breaks when you have just 19 members in a 64-member legislative chamber.

But rather than trying to come up with ideas that might interest actual Colorado voters, House GOP leaders are instead forming an even smaller mini caucus!  State Reps. Scott “There is No” Bottoms (R-Colorado Springs) and Ryan Armagost (R-Larimer County) announced this week that they are starting a “Second Amendment Caucus” to promote the right to wield any gun for any reason at any time.

As Melissa Henry reports for KKTV in Colorado Springs:

Following the last legislative session when democrats introduced a group of gun bills, two state republican representatives are standing up what they call a “Second Amendment Caucus.”

A caucus is a group of lawmakers who get together to discuss topics often prompting legislation, although caucuses do not have any direct lawmaking power.

Rep. Scott Bottoms, a republican representing El Paso County, says a main goal of the new caucus is to educate both lawmakers and citizens on firearms after hearing arguments and testimony at the state capitol last session on gun legislation.

“We heard things that, it was so obvious that these people have never touched a firearm … They don’t know what different rifles do, and to even use the term ‘assault weapon’ shows us they don’t understand what a firearm is … We are just trying to get some more information out there and try to help people a little more comfortably discuss, understand and debate the subject,” Bottoms said. [Pols emphasis]

Yeah, THAT’S your problem — people just don’t understand all the different names for firearms. It’s definitely not that Coloradans are definitely more supportive of gun violence prevention measures than allowing people to play their own private version of “cops and robbers.”

Bottoms and Armagost are apparently the only current members of this new club; it didn’t occur to them to maybe invite other people before making their announcement. Both men say that they hope their “Second Amendment Caucus” will be a bipartisan group, though no Democrat in their right mind would want to join an organization that included these twits (Bottoms, BTW, also just joined a new Republican-led effort to fight scary LGBTQ people).

Bottoms may not have done a great job of explaining the point of this new club to KKTV, but he at least formed sentences better than Armagost — a man who has demonstrated time and time again that using words is not his strong suit. Armagost took time out this week from collecting gun-themed clothing in order to talk with Jeff Hunt on KNUS radio about why the House of Representatives needs a new gun club. It went poorly, despite Armagost’s enthusiasm:

HUNT: Do you think [an assault weapons ban] is something we’re going to see again [next] year? Are you trying to pre-empt…are you trying to get your caucus members ready for another Second Amendment battle down at the State Capitol?

ARMAGOST [Shown here in his gun-themed wardrobe]: I think…yes. And the other part of that, I’d say, from another angle, is to also bring more voices to the table, uh, so if we do have a committee, we can have meetings. We can bring a new voice to the table — those business owners. The survivors of…of…gun violence, you know. Anything like that, that can talk to people and say, you know, tell their story. ‘If I had a firearm,’ or ‘my firearm saved my life,’ or whatever the case may be…getting that, that information to people so that they can kind of see that, ‘Oh, there’s another perspective that I didn’t think about.’ Because we have to hear the other perspective all the time, on the Republican side and on the pro-Second Amendment side.

We just need more people on the anti-gun, and the anti-Second Amendment side to kind of see other perspectives and other points of view, and get informed and educated. So that’s the primary purpose. Hopefully it can be pre-emptive, but if nothing else, it can be something where we can at least sustain that mentality and that ideology and make sure everyone’s on the same…[pause]…um…uh…the same…you know, group. [Pols emphasis] We’re all in the same mindset knowing what we’re looking at and what we’re approaching.

Armagost believes that people would be very supportive of allowing guns everywhere if only they knew the stories of imaginary business owners who survived gun violence despite not having their own firearm. He’s almost on the right track. The truth is that Coloradans have heard lots of stories about gun violence, which is why Democrats passed a bunch of gun violence prevention (GVP) bills in the 2024 legislative session.

That Armagost and Bottoms are spending time on forming a new “caucus” when ballots drop in Colorado in two months tells you a lot about why there are only 19 Republicans in the State House of Representatives.

And where in the hell is House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese? Her name showed up in support of the GOP’s latest anti-LGBTQ effort this week; is she just going to let her craziest members do whatever they want? We know Pugliese won’t actually stand up to anyone in her caucus, but perhaps she could at least try to point them in a more useful direction.

It’s almost like Colorado Republicans aren’t even trying anymore.