DENVER – Colorado GOP’s efforts to recall Rep. Tom Sullivan, the sponsor of the ‘red flag’ legislation, will be dropped.
Our partner Denver7 reports Colorado Republican Part Vice Chair Kristi Burton Brown made the announcement Tuesday on Facebook.
Burton Brown said “While we are pulling the recall today to focus on other essential efforts, Sullivan does not get a free pass. 2020 is the year to oust him, with the support of voters who now know how extreme he is.”
Governor Jared Polis signed the bill into law this Spring, something that is very personal to Sullivan because his son Alex was killed in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting.
“Alex being murdered in the Aurora Theater Massacre was the hardest thing I’ve ever dealt with. Threats from extremists like Rocky Mountain Gun Owners do not scare me, and they will certainly never stop me from protecting other families from that same heartbreak,” Sullivan told Denver7. “I won’t be bullied by the gun lobby and I will always keep my promises to my community and my constituents.”
Denver7 reports that before Brown’s announcement that the effort was being dropped, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund donated $100,000 to Democracy First Colorado to defend Sullivan against the recall effort, and the Giffords foundation, founded by former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, donated $10,000.
The Extreme Risks Protection Order law allows for a legal process to allow law enforcement officers or family members to ask a court to temporarily remove guns from the possession of a person determined to be a danger to themselves or others.
Denver7’s Blair Miller and Meghan Lopez contributed to this story.
