The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

Every Tuesday morning, I take solace in attending a prayer breakfast with some of my fellow colleagues here at the Colorado State Capitol. The issues we see here under the Gold Dome and around the Denver area have really started to wear on my spiritual health and well-being. I am not sure if it was something that was said or if it was due to the atmosphere, but last Tuesday morning I felt an internal push to do more than to just ponder about the issue we, as a society, find ourselves in.

I felt compelled to speak up during third reading today against HB23-1219 (Waiting Period to Deliver a Firearm). Speaking up during third readings is something that I had seldom done in my last four years when I served in the House; however, a question was stuck on my mind that I just had to vocalize. What did we not have one hundred years ago?

We didn’t have gun-free zones. We had a citizenry who knew about guns and respected them. We didn’t have rampant mental health and drug issues in our state and country. We had a community who we could trust and seek for guidance. We didn’t have a dysfunctional household dynamic; now the family structure of this country is being obliterated. We had and honored the father figure who was at the center of teaching their kids right from wrong.

There have been several bills run through this building (some that I have been a part of) to get at the cause of the problem. This bill is just another Band-Aid. This is just another treatment of the effect and not the cause, and until we get down to that root cause, we will continue to have these issues. This bill is legislating behavior; we all know how that turns out. You cannot legislate behavior.

I strongly believe that when we get right down to the very center of this problem, it is a moral and a spiritual problem. This country has moved further and further away from God and His principles and teachings. Until we get right with God, in our souls, there is always going to be a hole. A lot of times that hole is filled with anger and wrong-doing.

We, my Republican colleagues and I, were raised with the fundamental principles of our Constitution and of our God, and we believe that the second amendment shall not be infringed.