Let’s hope political pragmatism, if nothing else, prevails over the political fringe and its latest attempt at the Capitol to decriminalize crime. Notably, its pending legislation, narrowly approved by a House committee last week, to effectively eliminate “murder one.”

Granted, it’s too much to expect the dogma-driven disciples of “justice reform” in the legislature to grasp the implications of abolishing first-degree murder in Colorado for those who kill “only” one person. Yes, the unhinged House Bill 26-1281 explicitly does that.

But maybe enough of their fellow ruling Democrats who are more tethered to reality will understand the proposal comes across to rank-and-file Coloradans as just plain nutty. Not to mention offensive — particularly to the grieving loved ones of murder victims. And coddling — to violent criminals already all too accustomed to receiving a mere slap on the wrist.

The more rational members might note it’s an election year, in which they all will have to explain themselves to the voting public. So, maybe they’ll huddle with the bill’s sponsors — state Reps. Michael Carter, D-Aurora, and Cecelia Espenoza, D-Denver, and Sens. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora, and Nick Hinrichsen, D-Pueblo — and tell them, “no.” They might even point out they’re tired of their party’s soft-on-crime image in general and that HB 1281 is only Exhibit A. 

All of which may come as a shock to the out-of-touch foursome and other legislative progressives. It was Hinrichsen, after all, who seemed hurt and bewildered a few weeks ago after he couldn’t find much support among his peers for legalizing prostitution. Go figure.

If HB 1281 does make it through the legislature, it’ll once again be up to Gov. Jared Polis to salvage what’s left of his party’s battered image on public safety and law and order — and click open his veto pen.

The tone deafness of the bill is stunning. The time-honored, statutory definition of first-degree murder — knowingly engaging “in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to a person … under circumstances evidencing an attitude of universal malice manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life” — no longer would apply to taking a life. A murderer in most cases would have to take at least two lives to qualify for murder in the first degree. 

As for taking a single life, the legislation downgrades “the death of only one other person” to “murder in the second degree.” No matter how heinous.

It’s no wonder it has drawn an outpouring of opposition. Law enforcement, DAs and victim advocates have joined forces against the bill. They testified at length against it before the House Judiciary Committee, on which even one Democrat, Rep. Chad Clifford of Greenwood Village, broke ranks with his party and voted against HB 1281.

“This bill is more than just soft on crime; it is extreme,” Padraic Emerine of the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police told the committee. “It gives unwarranted and undeserved benefits to mass shooters, school shooters, and those offenders who want to cause as much harm as possible without a care or a worry for who they hurt or how many.”

A vote for HB 1281 “is a vote to support mass shooters,” Emerine said.

So far, the elected policymakers who have been driving justice reform at the Capitol have waved off such concerns. They are determined to redefine right and wrong, come what may. 

For them — the current criminal code, which they have toiled for years to water down — is still too harsh. They want to turn murder into murder lite.

Will anyone in their party at the Capitol put an end to this assault on justice?