Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg this week announced new funding and a new organization to level the political playing field against the gun lobby. The rest of us need to do our part and stand up to stop the madness the gun lobby engenders.  Before joining the Colorado Senate, I spent years as a paramedic and then as a police officer, and I saw a lot of gun violence first-hand. As a state Senator and party leader, allowing my friends, neighbors and constituents to remain vulnerable to gun violence seemed unconscionable.  We heard and continue to hear arguments that people have the unimpeachable right to own these weapons and walk down the street, though most admit those rights stop when someone else starts shooting people. Of course there is no such absolute "right". All rights that exist under our constitution have limitations.  Is forcing someone to reload their gun after cranking out 15 rounds a limit we can’t tolerate? Is allowing children precious seconds to escape a shooter just too inconvenient for rabbit hunters who don’t want to have to reload? Is requiring a background check to provide a measure of assurance that you are not a criminal or mentally ill before permitting you to purchase a gun unreasonable?  If a 20-year-old man were to walk down the street in the middle of downtown Colorado Springs, my hometown, wearing black pants, black shoes and a black shirt overlaid with a shooting vest loaded with four 20-round magazines, three 30-round magazines, and a 15- and an 18-round magazine, carrying a Bushmaster XM15-E2S (a variation of the US military’s standard M-16) loaded with another 30-round magazine, along with a fully loaded Glock 10mm semi-automatic pistol in a holster strapped to his right thigh and a fully loaded 9mm Sig Sauer semi-automatic pistol in a holster strapped to his right hip – all in plain view – he would break no Colorado law.  Unless, of course, he crossed the street outside a crosswalk: In that case, he would be guilty of jaywalking.  Before 1 July 2013 he could have also bought every item described above in the state of Colorado without so much as a background check – because of legislation I championed and help pass – he no longer can. In Colorado today, you must get a background check before buying a firearm: That is the only restriction we imposed. In most states, to this day, that hypothetical man can legally buy all that firepower without a background check by simply going to a gun show or visiting the trunk of some entrepreneur’s car and paying whatever price is asked.  Our hypothetical gun-laden 20-year old would have to step on school grounds to break a Colorado gun-related law. If he were on foot, someone might see him coming, lock down the school and call the police. But, if he were to drive up to the school’s front door, school officials would be lucky to have 10 seconds to notice that this man was on their school’s grounds with three guns and take action.  With a semi-automatic rifle, he could fire bullets as fast as he could squeeze the trigger until his magazine were to run dry – but the gun, designed for the battlefield, reloads smoothly (though it could take an amateur gunman several seconds).  Our hypothetical guy could repeat this four times, firing 120 rounds. Then he could reach down and grab the handgun strapped to his thigh and fire all those bullets and finally, he could grab the gun strapped to his hip and unload it on his victims or the pursuing police.  Of course, none of this is really hypothetical. This description comes right from the Danbury State Attorney’s report concerning the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown. I just applied the facts to my hometown.  When prevention fails, these incidents rarely end without devastating destruction. We can’t hope to prevent violence by noticing someone armed to the teeth entering a school, a theater or a mall. We can't arm everyone and hope to deter planned violent attacks or end them sooner and with fewer casualties. Even with the presence of an armed guard, like we had at Columbine High School, our attempts to stop these attacks will be muted since suicide is often the shooter’s intent.  The vast majority of Americans agree that we need responsible regulation of guns, but unfortunately, the few with arsenals in their basements are too loud and most politicians can’t think through the noise. They often ask us for moments of silence to honor the victims. May I suggest, instead, that what we need is leadership.  I lost my Senate seat in a recall election because I believed that requiring shooters to reload after 15 rounds and undergo background checks before buying their guns in the first place was a common-sense approach to gun safety. Unlike some politicians, I don’t mourn the loss of my seat. Instead I mourn the senseless, preventable loss of human life.
John Morse: I lost a Senate recall race because I believed we needed gun control after the Sandy Hook shooting – and I'd do it again