Author: David Kopel
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GUEST COLUMN: ‘Assault weapon’ still a bogeyman for Colorado pols
As soon as the Colorado general assembly convenes in January, there will be “assault weapon” legislation. Yet “assault weapon” is a vague marketing term and has nothing to do with any gun’s firepower. In 1989, Colorado state Sen. Pat Pascoe introduced the first “assault weapon” bill in Colorado. It would have banned a list of…
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Boulder County’s new gun law imperils public
Boulder’s elected officials self-identify as being progressive, tolerant, and realistic. Yet the gun-control package enacted recently by Boulder County commissioners is the opposite. Consider, for example, the new restrictions on the licensed carrying of firearms. Similar bans have been enacted in several Boulder County municipalities. Ever since 2003, Colorado has had a fair system for…
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OPINION: Politics ever present for Supreme Court picks
Republics are held together by written laws and by unwritten norms. The Roman Republic called its unwritten standards the mos maiorum—”way of the ancestors.” After thriving for centuries, the Roman Republic began to commit suicide around 100 B.C., as demagogues cast aside the mos maiorum and turned politics into tribal warfare. Similar trends are apparent…