Joining me now to talk about the latest bit of idiocy is a Representative Jarvis Caldwell.
First of all, welcome to the show.
Hey many, thanks so much for having me.
So, first of all, you have a name that sounds like you're the alter ego of some kind of superhero. So I'm just going to ask you this, what superpower would you like if you became a superhero?
Probably being able to stay awake on Judiciary long because it gets pretty well favored. We were up there until I think one am this morning having the debate on the bill we're about to talk about.
Okay, this bill.
When I saw it yesterday, I thought, surely he's exaggerating or something in his tweet, But you were not tell people what this bill that.
Three Democrats have sponsored is trying to do.
Yeah, so this is Health Bill twelve o six. It's called extreme indifference offenses not causing death. So there's a lot of nuance around this law, and that's what the discussion was yesterday. Let me just give you a quick example. You do a drive by shooting. You shoot at a crowd of people, but you don't hit anybody. Right now, that's a class to seleny with some pretty severe punishments. What the Democrats and how judicially want to do is they want to lower that down as low as a
selny five, which is probation eligible. So instead of facing serious prison time for shooting at a crowd of people but not hitting anybody, they want it to be as low as a sellenty five, which you can literally get probation for. So you know, we're all calling this the bad Shot Bill because you're trying to kill people, you're shooting at them, you don't hit them, and now you get a slap on the wrist if this bill passes.
So let me ask you this.
You were there till one o'clock last night, and according to something I saw this morning, a bunch of das showed up to argue against this bill. What what are these three Democrats using as their justification for this bill?
Why do they think it's needed.
Well, they're just saying that it's too big of a blanket right now, so that you know, they're saying there's a difference between if you hit somebody in the leg or if you miss them, and the DA's are basically they're saying, well, you know, the common theme from the das it was bipartisan DA's. We had DA Walsh from Denver, we had my district attorney, Michael Allen from the fourth Judicial down in El Paso County, and every single DA admitted like, look, there is maybe area here where we
can improve this. But when you're talking about dropping it down to a felony class five, you're literally talking about doing it drive by shooting and missing people and then getting probation for that. So while they're open to reworking the law potentially, I don't think any of them are on board with dropping it. Solow that you can get probation for doing a drive by shooting.
But let me, okay, let me ask this question more clearly. And this question is why are we supposed to care if someone randomly fired a weapon into a crowd of people, ostensibly potentially hitting them all, but just because they're a bad shot. I'm now supposed to what feel sympathy for someone who made that choice because I don't. And is that what they're saying, like, oh, we should worry about these people to indiscriminately fire a gun into a crowd
of people. I'm confused by who we're protecting or who's demanding this bill.
Where's this coming from?
Yeah, no, your take on it is exactly my take on it. So the first question I asked the bill sponsors when they proposed the bill at the beginning of the evening, I said, why this? Why now? Colorado is number eighth nationally and violent crime were the number three most dangerous states right now, So why this and why now?
And one of our witnesses that Da Michael Allen brought was one of the bartenders slash owner in the Club Q shooting, and he echoed my sensement when he got up in testify and he had very powerful testimony about the tragedy at Club Q. And he was there and he said, you know, I appreciate Rep called with comments why this and why now? And I never got an
answer for it. But unfortunately on how Judiciary Committee that has just been the going theme this entire session is any bills that enforce stricter penalties on criminals those die in committee? Any bill that helps the criminals. They passed with flying colors on party lines.
By the way, so what is the party breakdown on the Judiciary Committee. I know you guys are hopelessly outnumbered in the House, but how bad is it on Judiciary.
Yeah, it's seven Democrats and four Republicans right now. So in order to kill a bill or to pass the bill, you need to slip two Democrats. And there's I want to highlight. We passed one bill so far this session that actually enforces stricter penalties and that's for firearms theft, because the current law says, if he's still a fire arm under two thousand dollars, it's a misdemeanor. It has to be two thousand dollars or more, which is kind of rich. That's a very nice firearm. That's the only
bill that we've passed. And the only reason that passed was because my opinion, Majority Leader Monica Durand was on the bill and for Republicans voted for it and she was able to flip to Democrats. That's the only reason it passed. I'm sure you've probably talked about Brandley Brandy Bradley's so last week, the prohibition of probation for child rape.
I didn't talk about it because I had it on the blog.
It was just one of those things that I didn't get to on the show because it didn't pass.
Right, you can get probation, right, now in Colorado for raping a child. And actually seventy percent of these child sex crimes ends with probation, and we were trying to say, no, you can't get probation. There needs to be a minimum, and that bill couldn't even.
Pass, especially because that particular crime, sex crimes have a high rate of recidivism.
Usually it's not a one off.
That's horrifying to me, I mean absolutely horrifying exactly.
And you know, if you get probation for a child sex crime, you're not getting that help that you're supposed to be getting to try to make sure you don't for stivate, which, like you said, it's a very high crime. I mean, I'm pretty I'm pretty hardcore on this issue. I almost basically think you shouldn't see the light of day if you do this. But I definitely don't think you should be probation for committing such an act.
So let me ask you this, are there any Democrats on the judiciary that are flippable that maybe I have listeners in their districts that could get on the phone and say please don't do this. You know, because a lot of Republicans think if they call their democratic representative or state senator.
They're not going to be responsive. But I'm telling you right now.
You get enough people to call any legislator, it has an impact.
It really does.
So are there any Democrats that you think could be reasoned with on this issue by people calling and saying, please don't drop any more penalties?
We were you know, what are we doing here?
Yeah? So the one that we were able to flip to the gun bill, actually there's two. One of them was Representative Chad Clifford, and Chad is House District thirty seven, he's a Rapahoe County. And the other one we were able to flip was Representative Cecilia at the Noosa So she's district for she's Denver. She is the one who beats Tim Hernandez in the primary.
Is already a hero for that, right.
Yeah. And again, like I ran a bill that said no pr bonds for repeat land offenders, and she voted against that bill. She voted against the child rape the prohibition on child rape bill. So you know, I'm not very confident. Lot.
You know what, though, here's the thing.
If we don't try, we don't know, and if I have I'm going to do what I'll do is I'll find out the contact information for both of their offices and I'll urge people.
I'll urge people to go.
Ahead and give them a call and respectfully say.
Please don't pass this bill.
We're tired of making crime easier in Colorado.
We'd like it to stop.
And if you guys call and make a respectful argument, Respectful is the key here, because if you're an a hole, they will just ignore you. You can make a difference. I tell people this all the time. You don't believe me, but we have to put pressure on somebody because we've got to stop this nonsensical belief that somehow, if we just give them another chance, they're going to make a better choice next time, when there's no evidence that any of this is actually having that impact.
Yeah, no, you're exactly right. I mean, the recidivism rate for violent crimes, and especially these TELITEXS crimes, is extremely high, and we're just letting people go and they're not getting any kind of help or rehabilitation, and we're just basically just hoping they get six. I mean, I'm sure you've probably talked about what happened in Pueblo.
Yeah, we talked about that just a minute ago.
Yeah, and you know this guy was out on three selony bonds and had fourteen prior selonies and it's like, you know, that guy wasn't rehabilitated. What the hell was he to excuse my language, but what was he doing walking around the shot right? Yeah, in the world did he get a gun? Because we all know fellas aren't allowed to have guns. And look what happened. Three of our officers got injured. But in that situation, had had that person shot at those officers and not hit them,
he could qualify for probation. That's how ridiculous this House Bill twelve O six is that they're trying to pass.
Representive Jarvis car Caldwell. Keep fighting the good fight. When's the next hearing?
So this this bill got laid over. I think they realized that they may the bill may die in committee because we may have slipped those two Democrats that I mentioned earlier. So they laid it over for action at a later date. But we don't know that date yet. So this bill will be heard again and we'll see what happens. I'll make sure I keep you in the loop on that.
Okay.
Representive Caldwell I want you to offer an amendment. I want you to offer a passive, aggressive amendment, and I want you to make it an amendment to the Second Time Shooter Bill. That's what one of my text messagers called it, the second Chance Shooter Bill, and this one as as an amendment. Please offer that if someone is given probation, they have to take a gun safety course so they can more carefully handle their firearm in the future, just like they're trying to do with SB three.
If you could do that, I would be forever appreciative.
Well, that's perfect for me to plug. The SB three is coming to the floor tomorrow and we're going to fight that thing all the way. So if your listeners want to tune in, SB three's on the House floor tomorrow. And I make that argument all the time. There's no nexus between a gun safety class and gun violence.
Yep, right.
People are not gonna they're not planning to go shoot up a public place, and then they took a gun safety class and now they change their minds. That's absolutely it's an infringement.
Office Representative Caldbell I gotta let you go.
I'm late for a break. Good to talk to you, man. I hope we can talk again in the future.