It seems like it's been more than seven weeks since Colorado governor Jared Polis signed one of the nation's most intrusive gun control bills into law. It seems longer. But sure enough, there it is.
It's tempting, as a 2nd Amendment activist, to say "look, I told you so" when a spectacular, grisly crime like last week's attack on the pro-hostage demonstration in Boulder could have been prevented by one good guy or gal with a gun. I mean, a guy walking with a lit Molotov Cocktail and/or home-made flamethrower isn't an especially ambiguous thread to innocent peoples' lives. One of the seminal examples of a good gal with a gun saving countless lives when someone attacked a religious gathering happened in Colorado, no less.
Alleged attacker Mohamed Sabry Soliman tried to get a gun, but was rebuffed by federal, not state, gun regulations:
The man accused of attacking a a pro-Israel peace parade with molotov cocktails in Boulder, Colorado, on Sunday told authorities he planned to use a gun and took a concealed firearm class – but was denied the purchase because he was not a US citizen.
So, just as predicted by generations of 2nd Amendment advocates, he switched methods:
He had planned to target the demonstration with 18 molotov cocktails in his possession but apparently had second thoughts and threw just two, according to authorities.
Correlation doesn't equal causation of course.
And even more correlation doesn't equal causation, either. But there's getting to be a whole lot of correlation between the policies of Gov. Polis and Colorado's aggressively "progressive" legislative majority.
In addition to hamstringing law-abiding gun owners. Polis and Colorado Democrats decided to focus on the real enemy.
That'd be the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), if you're a Colorado Democrat:
Just weeks before the attack, Colorado Democrats passed legislation aimed at hindering Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) ability to find and deport illegal aliens. The bill, signed by Governor Jared Polis in late May, bars law enforcement in the state from respecting ICE detainer requests, which the federal agency uses to gain custody of illegal aliens who have been placed in local jails after being arrested for crimes.
The legislation was marketed as a way to counter the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration by Democrats in the state.
The bill makes it illegal for for city and county government and law enforcement to share identity info, immigration status, or any other data ICE might use to try to find illegal immigrants, or legal visa-holders with deportable offenses on their records. The law also has teeth - providing penalties for city, county or state employees who work with ICE, including fines of up to $50,000.
Money recouped will go into a fund to - you guessed it - defend illegal immigrants:
Called the Immigration Legal Defense Fund, the initiative “provides free immigration legal services to help Coloradans and those detained in Colorado with their immigration court proceedings.” Potential beneficiaries of the program only have to demonstrate that they are in Colorado, have been placed in deportation proceedings, and cannot afford legal defense.
The usual suspects (figuratively, not literally speaking) are all in favor of it:
“One of the reasons why I appreciate this bill so much is that it is one of few that is really taking seriously the crisis that the federal administration poses for immigrants in particular and for marginalized people generally,” said Democrat state representative Yara Zokaie.
And while the law is mere weeks old and may not have directly affected the alleged terror attack, the messaged sent is pretty clear:
A terror attack was committed in Boulder, Colorado by an illegal alien. He was granted a tourist visa by the Biden Administration and then he illegally overstayed that visa. In response, the Biden Administration gave him a work permit.
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) June 2, 2025
Suicidal migration must be fully reversed.
Colorado, like many "blue" states, is a whole lot more "purple" than policies like Polis's might lead you to think. Elections have consequences. And perhaps Colorado's biggest immigration problem is the perfectly legal but politically catastrhopic immigration of voters from California who brought their politics in their UHauls with them.
Time will tell if more episodes like this anti-semitic outrage will moderate Colorado.
