Colorado Democrats who have spent months defending the state’s red-flag gun control law learned Monday they have an unlikely ally in Republican President Donald Trump.

During remarks at the White House following two mass shootings over the weekend that left dozens dead, Trump backed red-flag laws, which in Colorado have been cause for a lawsuit, sheriffs’ public objections, and attempts at recalling Democrats from office.

“We must make sure that those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms, and that, if they do, those firearms can be taken through rapid due process,” Trump said. “That is why I have called for red-flag laws, also known as extreme risk protection orders.”

In April, Gov. Jared Polis signed Colorado’s red-flag law, House Bill 1177, allowing judges to temporarily remove firearms from people believed to be at high risk of harming themselves or others. No Republicans voted in favor of the bill.

Dudley Brown, the director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, which is suing to stop Colorado’s red-flag law from taking effect, slammed Trump’s remarks Monday. “You cannot infringe on the gun rights of millions of law-abiding Americans based on the actions of lawless madmen,” he said.

“Let me be crystal clear. Forcing universal (background) checks and red-flag gun confiscation laws on Americans would have done nothing to stop either of these murderers. They went through the failed and unconstitutional National Instant Criminal Background Check system,” Brown added.

Brown said he and his national group, the National Association for Gun Rights, will hold Trump and all other elected officials responsible for their gun control actions, regardless of political party.

“We will let our members and supporters know how their elected officials vote – just like we did back in 2013 when they tried to pass gun control during the Obama years,” he said.

Few Republicans in Congress have signaled support for red-flag laws. A notable exception is Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. That committee held a hearing on state red-flag laws in March, but has not passed legislation on the matter.

During the March 26 hearing, senators heard testimony from Dave Kopel, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Denver and research director for the libertarian think tank Independence Institute. Kopel said red-flag laws can be reasonable when limited in scope.

“Unreliable procedures for (gun removal) orders ensure that a very large amount of orders will be issued about innocent and peaceable individuals,” he told Congress. “The problem is aggravated by mandates in some states for automatic, no-notice, surprise confiscation, which may be perpetrated by no-knock raids.”

The spring debate over Colorado’s red-flag law was passionate in a state that has seen the horrors of mass shootings but also has a Western libertarian streak, making it friendly to gun rights. Three dozen Colorado counties have passed resolutions declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries, according to Rally for our Rights, a group opposed to the red-flag law.

Colorado’s law was championed by freshman state Rep. Tom Sullivan, a Centennial Democrat who lost his son in 2012’s Aurora theater shooting. Rocky Mountain Gun Owners tried unsuccessfully to collect enough signatures to put a Sullivan recall on the ballot.

On Monday morning, Sullivan spoke at a small protest outside U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner’s office, calling on the Yuma Republican to pass national gun control legislation.

Gardner condemned the weekend attacks in a statement but his office declined to comment on Trump’s red-flag idea Monday. During a radio appearance in May, Gardner questioned the Colorado red-flag law’s constitutionality. He previously opposed Colorado’s ban on high-capacity magazines and congressional attempts at expanding background checks.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Denver Democrat, said on social media that the Senate should return from its summer recess to vote on gun-control legislation.

“There is no such thing as being neutral” on guns, said Mike Johnston, a Senate candidate challenging Gardner in the 2020 election, during the protest outside Gardner’s downtown Denver office Monday morning. “You either stand with the white nationalist holding an AR-15 or you stand with the mother of a 2-year-old who is shielding her child from that AR-15.”