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Colorado Gun Rights, Dialogue, and Next Steps After HB26-1021 Fails in Committee

The HB26-1021 Second Amendment Protection Act was killed in committee on a strict party-line vote. Despite the setback, the hearing produced strong debate and opened doors for future discussions about gun rights, constitutional limits, and policy direction. The fight over firearm law reform in Colorado is far from over. HB26-1021 aimed to repeal a large number of Colorado firearm regulations. These included background check requirements for private transfers, safe storage mandates, age limits and waiting periods, permitting requirements for dealers, local ordinance authority, magazine restrictions, gun show rules, and the Office of Gun Violence Prevention. The bill’s sponsors and supporters argued that many of these laws have not demonstrated effectiveness in reducing criminal gun violence. The bill was defeated in the House Judiciary Committee by a 7-4 vote along party lines. Opponents framed it as a threat to public safety because it would have repealed nearly all of Colorado’s g...
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Law, Compassion, and the Proper Role of the Pulpit and the People

Recently, a post by Douglas County Watch criticized a sermon delivered by Pastor Bryan Fields of Grace Chapel Castle Rock and suggested that his message on immigration made its way into the Capitol through my remarks in the well of the Colorado House of Representatives. Let me begin with this. I am proud to be part of the Grace family. Grace Chapel provides spiritual leadership that calls us to lead in love and to stand firmly in truth. Pastor Fields’ sermons challenge me to grow in character, humility, and conviction. I value that influence. I embrace it. Faith should shape the moral compass of any serious leader. At the same time, there is an important distinction between the pulpit and the well of the House. A sermon calls people to spiritual transformation. A legislator speaks within a constitutional framework. When I rise to speak in the well, I do so under oath. My words are governed by the Constitution, statutory authority, and the duty I owe to every constituent, regardless of ...
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Location: 200 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80203, USA
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E Pluribus Unum. Law, Love, and the Work of Becoming One

I serve in the Colorado House of Representatives to represent the citizens of House District 45 first. Public safety is not an abstraction. It is the condition that allows families to thrive, businesses to grow, and communities to trust one another. The rule of law is the foundation that makes that possible. A proposal advanced this week at the Capitol, allowing lawsuits against federal immigration agents for carrying out lawful duties, strikes at both. This legislation does not exist in a vacuum. It reflects a growing impulse to treat enforcement itself as a moral failing. That impulse is misguided. When a state punishes those tasked with enforcing the law, it creates hesitation where decisiveness is required. It replaces clarity with confusion. In that vacuum, criminal networks flourish, victims multiply, and order erodes. No society can remain safe when those sworn to protect it are treated as adversaries. America has always been a nation of immigrants, but it has never been a nati...
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Location: 200 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80203, USA
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Colorado Democrats’ “Affordable Housing” Plan Sounds Good. The Policy Details Tell a Different Story.

Colorado families are being crushed by the cost of housing. We all see it. Young adults cannot afford a first home. Seniors on fixed incomes feel trapped. Working families are forced farther from jobs, schools, and support systems. So when Democrats roll out another “affordable housing plan,” I read it with one question in mind. Will this actually lower housing costs, or will it grow government control, weaken local communities, and produce more bureaucracy than results? From what’s been reported publicly, this new Democrat agenda follows the same playbook we’ve watched for years. Big promises. Heavy-handed mandates. Centralized control. More spending. Less local authority. More pressure on counties like Douglas, where we have worked hard to build safe neighborhoods, responsible development, and strong infrastructure. Colorado needs more housing. But we need the right kind of housing growth, done in the right way, for the right reasons. And that means respecting the people who actua...
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Location: 200 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80203, USA
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A Colorado Worth Fighting For: The 2026 House Minority Legislative Agenda

Colorado is no longer drifting. It is being driven - deliberately - down a path that is less affordable, less safe, and less free than the state generations before us built. The data confirms what families already feel. Colorado now ranks among the most expensive states in the nation. Housing affordability is near the bottom. Regulation is among the highest. Property crime, auto theft, and human trafficking are near the top. These are not partisan talking points. They are measurable outcomes of policy choices made under prolonged one-party control. This is not the Colorado we deserve. For several years, legislators like House Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell and Assistant Minority Leader Ty Winter have been sounding the alarm. Their work has consistently highlighted a pattern: more spending without discipline, more regulation without results, and more centralized control at the expense of local communities and working families. The press coverage is clear. The warning signs are unmistak...
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Location: 200 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80203, USA
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Third Time’s the ‘Chore’: Colorado’s "Special Session" Farce

The term "special" would seem to indicate an event that happens outside of the norm, perhaps better or more important than usual, or distinguished by some sort of unique quality.  Colorado’s latest “special” session wasn’t special at all - it was a scripted, six‑day tax‑and‑spend spree that left small businesses reeling, taxpayers paying more, and the state’s budget hole untouched. The call from the Governor to form a special session even dripped with progressive rhetoric, seeking to blame the passage of HR1 for Colorado's ongoing financial woes.  One stated intent of the majority party was to "raise revenue", which we all know means to simply "raise taxes". Lawmakers gutted tax breaks for small businesses and insurance companies, wiped out incentives for entrepreneurs, and operated in open defiance of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR). Take, for instance, the elimination of the vendor fee. This was a modest compensation to retailers to help offset t...
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Location: 200 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80203, USA
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Why I Supported Home Rule - and Why the Fight for Local Control Isn’t Over

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When I first ran for office, I made a promise to represent the people of Douglas County with clarity, courage, and a fierce commitment to preserving what makes our community exceptional. That commitment led me to become a vocal supporter of the Douglas County Home Rule Charter. This initiative was never about rebellion. It was about resilience. Each legislative session at the State Capitol brings a new round of policies that pull authority away from local communities and concentrate it in Denver under the gold dome. From statewide zoning mandates that strip your elected county commissioners of land use authority, to top-down education reforms that disregard the values of local families, we are watching the slow but deliberate erosion of local control. Home Rule offered Douglas County the opportunity to push back intelligently, constitutionally, and proactively. Let me be clear: Home Rule is not a silver bullet. It doesn't give a county the power to defy state law or rewrite the Con...
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Location: Castle Rock, CO, USA
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