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| The gun safety campaigners who don't mention guns | The gun safety campaigners who don't mention guns |
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| Ask Tom Sullivan why he has been on the campaign trail every day for the past three months, and he will recount a father-son experience involving guns. | Ask Tom Sullivan why he has been on the campaign trail every day for the past three months, and he will recount a father-son experience involving guns. |
| “Some people had those fall experiences with their dad and their grandfather, and walked through forests and hunted duck or deer or elk,” he said. “And then there are those who had the bad gun experience. A man walked into a movie theater, opened fire, and murdered my son. That was my gun experience. And I don’t want anybody else to experience that.” | “Some people had those fall experiences with their dad and their grandfather, and walked through forests and hunted duck or deer or elk,” he said. “And then there are those who had the bad gun experience. A man walked into a movie theater, opened fire, and murdered my son. That was my gun experience. And I don’t want anybody else to experience that.” |
| The death of his 27-year-old son, Alex – one of 12 people shot dead in an Aurora movie theater in July 2012 – is what drives Sullivan to dedicate every spare moment campaigning for candidates in Colorado who support gun safety policies. Yet there is one subject that Sullivan tries to avoid mentioning on the doorstep: guns. | |
| Over coffee in his Denver home, which sometimes doubles as a phone bank for Democratic candidates, Sullivan explained his difficulty. | Over coffee in his Denver home, which sometimes doubles as a phone bank for Democratic candidates, Sullivan explained his difficulty. |
| While most Coloradans support some restrictions on gun sales – such as expanded background checks – the issue doesn’t usually rate as a priority. Opponents of gun control, by contrast, are likely to feel more passionate about protecting what they perceive as their second amendment rights. | While most Coloradans support some restrictions on gun sales – such as expanded background checks – the issue doesn’t usually rate as a priority. Opponents of gun control, by contrast, are likely to feel more passionate about protecting what they perceive as their second amendment rights. |
| Put simply, candidates who support tightening gun laws calculate that they stand to lose more votes than they will win by talking about the issue. Sullivan, a 58-year-old postal worker, has therefore been skirting the issue when campaigning for candidates. “I’m talking about the economy, jobs, education, infrastructure,” he explained. | Put simply, candidates who support tightening gun laws calculate that they stand to lose more votes than they will win by talking about the issue. Sullivan, a 58-year-old postal worker, has therefore been skirting the issue when campaigning for candidates. “I’m talking about the economy, jobs, education, infrastructure,” he explained. |
| Candidates in tight races realise they cannot win over swing voters on the issue of guns. “You’re trying to find the middle ground, and affect the undecideds. They can move them with talk of better healthcare, infrastructure, access to jobs. Through all of their studies, they find they can’t move those undecideds over by talking about high-capacity magazine or background checks.” | Candidates in tight races realise they cannot win over swing voters on the issue of guns. “You’re trying to find the middle ground, and affect the undecideds. They can move them with talk of better healthcare, infrastructure, access to jobs. Through all of their studies, they find they can’t move those undecideds over by talking about high-capacity magazine or background checks.” |
| Sullivan has only encountered a couple of voters who, without prompting, brought up the subject of guns. Only then did he tell them about the death of his son. “Then they’re like, ‘Oh’,” Sullivan said. “One of them said: ‘I’m really sorry.’ The other one was a young kid, like, 19, and he shot back at me: guns aren’t the problem. Then the conversation kind of stopped.” | |
| Advocates for gun reform have struggled to articulate a nationwide message after the failure, in the wake of the December 2012 killing of 26 children and educators at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, to get even the most basic background-check legislation through Congress. | Advocates for gun reform have struggled to articulate a nationwide message after the failure, in the wake of the December 2012 killing of 26 children and educators at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, to get even the most basic background-check legislation through Congress. |
| Campaigners instead refocused their efforts on local battles. “When you can’t get your federal US legislators to support that, and vote for it, after 26 people have been annihilated in an elementary school, then you have to go state to state to get it done,” explained Sandy Phillips, whose 24-year-old daughter, Jessica Redfield Ghawi, was killed in the Aurora shooting. | Campaigners instead refocused their efforts on local battles. “When you can’t get your federal US legislators to support that, and vote for it, after 26 people have been annihilated in an elementary school, then you have to go state to state to get it done,” explained Sandy Phillips, whose 24-year-old daughter, Jessica Redfield Ghawi, was killed in the Aurora shooting. |
| But the local focus has left a nationwide gap. Most of the TV ads related to guns in midterm races have either been sponsored by the National Rifle Association (NRA), which has spent millions on crucial Senate races, or featured gun-toting candidates in folksy, target-practice videos (targets have included a drone, a TV, a copy of the Affordable Care Act and an elephant piñata). | |
| In Colorado, redistricting placed the Aurora movie theater, and many of James Holmes’ victims, including Tom Sullivan, in the sixth congressional district, represented by incumbent Republican Mike Coffman. Coffman opposed the post-Sandy Hook attempts to close a loophole that allows the purchase of firearms online or at gun shows without a background check. | |
| When Sullivan and Phillips visited the congressman in Washington earlier this year, he told them it was an issue that states should handle. Colorado had already passed legislation requiring background checks for all private gun sales, and a ban on large magazine rounds. | When Sullivan and Phillips visited the congressman in Washington earlier this year, he told them it was an issue that states should handle. Colorado had already passed legislation requiring background checks for all private gun sales, and a ban on large magazine rounds. |
| “I said, OK, Mike, we took care of legislation here in Colorado, but they don’t have it in Wyoming or Utah or Kansas. So these people can just go across the border and buy themselves another 100-round magazine and come back to Aurora,” said Sullivan. “We need direction from Washington.” | “I said, OK, Mike, we took care of legislation here in Colorado, but they don’t have it in Wyoming or Utah or Kansas. So these people can just go across the border and buy themselves another 100-round magazine and come back to Aurora,” said Sullivan. “We need direction from Washington.” |
| The Colorado laws, signed exactly eight months after the Aurora shooting, were passed without a single Republican vote, proved hugely controversial and eventually resulted in the ousting of two Democratic state lawmakers in a campaign spearheaded by pro-gun groups. Despite the tragedy in Aurora, and others such as Columbine, Colorado is a rural state where hunting is popular, and there are high levels of gun ownership. Candidates who back gun control do so quietly. | The Colorado laws, signed exactly eight months after the Aurora shooting, were passed without a single Republican vote, proved hugely controversial and eventually resulted in the ousting of two Democratic state lawmakers in a campaign spearheaded by pro-gun groups. Despite the tragedy in Aurora, and others such as Columbine, Colorado is a rural state where hunting is popular, and there are high levels of gun ownership. Candidates who back gun control do so quietly. |
| Coffman’s opponent, Democrat Andrew Romanoff, supports background checks, but it is absent from the 11 key campaign issues listed on his website. “There may be people who vote against me because I support background checks,” he told the Guardian. “There may be people who vote for me because I do. I just happen to think it is a good idea.” | Coffman’s opponent, Democrat Andrew Romanoff, supports background checks, but it is absent from the 11 key campaign issues listed on his website. “There may be people who vote against me because I support background checks,” he told the Guardian. “There may be people who vote for me because I do. I just happen to think it is a good idea.” |
| The same applies to candidates in other races in the state. “A lot of them are shy about their positions on guns,” said Eileen McCarron, who runs Colorado Ceasefire, a local group that pushed governor John Hickenlooper and other Democrats to support background checks in the wake of the Aurora shooting. | The same applies to candidates in other races in the state. “A lot of them are shy about their positions on guns,” said Eileen McCarron, who runs Colorado Ceasefire, a local group that pushed governor John Hickenlooper and other Democrats to support background checks in the wake of the Aurora shooting. |
| Her group has made small donations to 22 Democratic state legislature candidates, but realises that fewof them are likely to speak out on the issue. Two local Democrats even went so far as returning checks, McCarron said, fearing that an endorsement from a gun-control group would alienate voters. | |
| The risks were laid bare in the race for Arizona’s second congressional district, scene of the 2011 Tucson shooting that killed six people and wounded 12 others, including then congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. | The risks were laid bare in the race for Arizona’s second congressional district, scene of the 2011 Tucson shooting that killed six people and wounded 12 others, including then congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. |
| Giffords, a Democrat, was critically injured when she was shot at point-blank range, and had to step down from her congressional seat. Her director of constituency operations, Ron Barber, suffered less serious injuries and was able to stand for election to replace his former boss. | Giffords, a Democrat, was critically injured when she was shot at point-blank range, and had to step down from her congressional seat. Her director of constituency operations, Ron Barber, suffered less serious injuries and was able to stand for election to replace his former boss. |
| This election cycle, Barber has faced a tough challenge from Republican Martha McSally, an opponent of expanded background checks, and support from Gifford’s political action committee (Pac), Americans for Responsible Solutions. | |
| Last month the Pac, which campaigns against gun violence, ran two powerful TV ads featuring featuring local mothers whose daughters had been been killed in shootings. One featured a mother, Vicki Walker, who breaks down in tears when she recounts how her husband and 19-year-old daughter were murdered by her daughter’s ex-boyfriend, a stalker. A narrator says: “Martha McSally opposes making it harder for stalkers to get a gun.” | Last month the Pac, which campaigns against gun violence, ran two powerful TV ads featuring featuring local mothers whose daughters had been been killed in shootings. One featured a mother, Vicki Walker, who breaks down in tears when she recounts how her husband and 19-year-old daughter were murdered by her daughter’s ex-boyfriend, a stalker. A narrator says: “Martha McSally opposes making it harder for stalkers to get a gun.” |
| The ad forced McSally to come out in favour of amending the background check law to prevent stalkers from buying guns. | The ad forced McSally to come out in favour of amending the background check law to prevent stalkers from buying guns. |
| But it also sparked a furious response from critics who felt the Giffords Pac had gone too far. The Arizona Republic newspaper denounced the ad as “a nasty piece of work”. | But it also sparked a furious response from critics who felt the Giffords Pac had gone too far. The Arizona Republic newspaper denounced the ad as “a nasty piece of work”. |
| Americans for Responsible Solutions ended up pulling the controversial ad and replacing it with a softer version. | |
| Barber has tried to stay out of the controversy. “You won’t see an ad of me talking about the shooting,” he told the Guardian during a constituency stop at a children’s museum last month, eight miles from the Safeway supermarket where he and Giffords were shot. | Barber has tried to stay out of the controversy. “You won’t see an ad of me talking about the shooting,” he told the Guardian during a constituency stop at a children’s museum last month, eight miles from the Safeway supermarket where he and Giffords were shot. |
| The message, from Aurora to Tuscon, seems clear. Even in districts that bear the scars of gun atrocities, politicians fear that emotional pleas from victims of gun violence will make the electorate queasy. | The message, from Aurora to Tuscon, seems clear. Even in districts that bear the scars of gun atrocities, politicians fear that emotional pleas from victims of gun violence will make the electorate queasy. |
| That is a message Sullivan knows well. Not a single candidate in Colorado has asked him to appear in their ads, and he knows better than to broach the subject of the death of his son. | That is a message Sullivan knows well. Not a single candidate in Colorado has asked him to appear in their ads, and he knows better than to broach the subject of the death of his son. |
| The only exception is when voters bring up guns unprompted, such as the woman earlier this week who told Sullivan, as she walked out of her driveway, that she wasn’t going to vote for Governor Hickenlooper because he had made it harder for people to buy guns when he signed the post-Aurora legislation into law. | The only exception is when voters bring up guns unprompted, such as the woman earlier this week who told Sullivan, as she walked out of her driveway, that she wasn’t going to vote for Governor Hickenlooper because he had made it harder for people to buy guns when he signed the post-Aurora legislation into law. |
| Sullivan told the woman about Alex. The pair talked for five minutes. “I told her why I don’t get to hang around with my son. Why I don’t have grandchildren to play with,” Sullivan said. “I think I may have changed her vote.” | Sullivan told the woman about Alex. The pair talked for five minutes. “I told her why I don’t get to hang around with my son. Why I don’t have grandchildren to play with,” Sullivan said. “I think I may have changed her vote.” |