Senate Republicans have accused Gov. John Hickenlooper of following New York’s lead on gun laws, and today they made it official, hanging a doctored $40 New York flag in their Capitol office.
The coat of arms, though now bears new faces. Hickenlooper’s face is on Liberty, the figure with the Revolutionary imagery of a Phrygian cap raised on a pole. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s face is imposed on the figure on the right, the blindfold Justice.
The altered New York flag features Gov. Hickenlooper.
“I called Bloomberg the de facto governor of Colorado, and now he and Hickenlooper share a flag,” said Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs.
Despite a super-sized campaign to get the governor to veto the gun bills, on Wednesday Hickenlooper will sign three gun bills into law: House Bill 1224 limits ammunition magazines to 15 rounds; House Bill 1228 requires gun customers to pay for the costs of their own background checks; and House Bill 1229 requires universal background checks.
During the debate, Republicans argued that the Democratic governor and the Democratic-controlled legislature were taking directions from the White House and Bloomberg’s group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns. New York was the first state to pass stricter gun control laws after a shooting last December at a Connecticut elementary school. Colorado, despite a western state known for its independence, is on the verge.
Democrats dismissed the charge as nonsense, and pointed to Colorado’s own tragedies with guns, Columbine High School in 1999 and the Aurora movie theater last year.