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History of the Colorado InitiativeThe citizen effort in Colorado to close the gun show loophole is the culmination of heroic efforts on the part of local community leaders to help prevent tragedies like the one that occurred at Columbine High School in 1999. All four of the guns used in the Columbine shooting were purchased at a Colorado gun show. Robyn Anderson, the woman who purchased three of the four guns, has testified that she purchased the guns at a gun show to avoid having to give her name to gun vendors, and that—if she had been required to undergo a background check—she would not have purchased the guns. The proposal to close the gun show loophole was first considered by the Colorado State Legislature. Despite broad bipartisan support for the measure—including Republican Governor Bill Owens—the proposal was defeated by one vote after a vigorous lobbying campaign against the measure by the National Rifle Association. After the defeat of the measure, community leaders decided to put this question directly to the people of Colorado by organizing the effort to place this initiative on the state ballot. SAFE Colorado launched an aggressive petition drive to collect the approximately 60,000 signatures needed to get the initiative on the ballot. Led in part by Tom Mauser, father of Columbine victim Dan Mauser, Governor Bill Owens, and other community leaders, SAFE Colorado collected close to 110,000 signatures—almost twice the required number—to get the initiative on the ballot. In delivering the petition signatures to the state capitol, Tom Mauser wore sneakers owned by his son, Dan. The moment was especially poignant because just days before he was killed, Dan told his father of his own worries about the dangers posed by the gun show loophole.
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