Editor’s note: An earlier version of this piece said Rep. Rhonda Fields’ son was killed by an assault weapon, based on information from Fields. But Fields on Friday told The Post’s Kurtis Lee that she “misspoke” She said her son was not killed by an assault rifle and that she was still trying to determine what kind of gun was used.

Over the past few days, this paper and several conservative blogs have seized upon remarks I made at a Denver Post gun forum regarding my legislation to ban high-capacity magazines. For those of us who have fought for years to enact responsible gun violence prevention laws, the fervor these remarks has created is nothing new. As I have learned in two decades of work on gun violence prevention issues, the gun lobby takes every opportunity to intimidate, and attempt to silence, anyone who stands up to fight to make our families safer. They have done it for decades, and this week, as I continued my pursuit of common-sense gun violence prevention, I found myself in their sights.

The truth — thus far absent from the discussion — is this: While perhaps inartfully stated in the moment of exchange, my position remains clear. If a high-capacity magazine ban is put in place, there would be a reduction of magazines in circulation, simply because they would no longer be available for lawful purchase. If Congress passed a high-capacity magazine ban, disturbed individuals like the Aurora shooter would not be able to go online to order a 100-round magazine or walk into their local sporting goods store to purchase a 30-round magazine.

While those who currently have high-capacity magazines would be able to keep them and reuse them if they wished, they would not be able to purchase new high-capacity magazines or transfer them to others. The availability of these assault magazines to criminals and the mentally ill would thus be greatly reduced over time.

These are the facts, pure and simple.

These facts have been obfuscated in the discussion this week because once again, personal attacks and intentional manipulation of positions have been employed to distract from the pursuit of meaningful efforts to reduce gun violence. In the age of social media, the playbook has taken on a new vicious and viral quality, as half-truths and distorted facts can be spread to thousands of their allies over the Internet for mobilization purposes. We have seen this time after time in Colorado and across the nation.

Earlier this year, here in Colorado, Aurora’s state Rep. Rhonda Fields was personally and viciously maligned as she pursued meaningful gun violence prevention legislation in the statehouse — including a high-capacity magazine ban. Despite her long reputation as a tireless advocate for gun safety, and as the parent of a child gunned down by an gunman, the attacks were ugly and personal, and not only distracted from the critical debates occurring in the state Capitol, they ultimately led to physical threats against Fields. However, in the end, Fields was victorious, passing landmark legislation that will keep Colorado’s families safer.

Just this week, the founder of the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners Association, Dudley Brown, declared that it is “time to hunt Democrats.” Yet, these incendiary words have received little or no attention in the press here in Colorado. So while the gun lobby is busy mobilizing their base to attack me regarding a simple phrase I uttered, Brown is using threatening language intended to summon deadly images of those in the political party with whom he disagrees. It may be straight out of the playbook the gun lobby has used for decades, but that makes it no less outrageous.

A high-capacity magazine ban will not stop an individual intent upon doing harm, but would give those victims in their sights a fighting chance when the gunman has to stop and reload. As an Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agent I work with frequently says, “A high-capacity magazine ban would go a long way to taking the ‘mass’ out of ‘mass shooting.’ “

While the gun lobby may utilize smear tactics this week to make the focus about me, this debate is not about a misspoken turn of phrase. It is about the thousands of children and families who are the victims of gun violence every year; the 58 people injured and the 12 killed in a Colorado theater; the 20 children and six brave adults in a school in Connecticut; and the countless other faces whose names we do not know.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat, represents Colorado’s 1st Congressional District.