A day after Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said he expects to see bills to address gun violence in the legislative session that begins next month, there were little or no specifics to be found on what that legislation might look like.

The motivation, however, seems there, at least among some top Democrats.

“I’m with the governor,” said House Democratic leader Crisanta Duran of Denver. “I’m frustrated by this pervasive gun violence and I’m open to having conversations, but I don’t know what they might lead to at the state level.

“Colorado has been a leader in passing responsible gun safety legislation, but individual states can only do so much. It’s time for Congress to step up.”

Democrats passed gun control laws in 2013 that included universal background checks on gun purchases and that limited ammunition magazines to 15 rounds.

Their efforts led to the recall of Senate President John Morse of Colorado Springs and Sen. Angela Giron of Pueblo. Sen. Evie Hudak of Westminster chose to resign rather than face a recall.

Eric Sondermann, an independent, Denver-based political analyst, said he expects some gun bills to be introduced by Democratic legislators whose constituencies want action, but he doesn’t expect any to pass.

“When you introduce something that has very little chance of making it into law, it’s much easier to make a point,” he said.

David Kopel, a gun-rights expert and research director of the conservative Independence Institute in Denver, doubts Hickenlooper is right.

“Experience demonstrates that Colorado’s chief executive does not always have a good sense of feelings in the state legislature,” he said. “Lyndon Johnson he is not.”

Rep. Rhonda Fields, a Democrat from Aurora, is one of the legislature’s staunchest anti-violence advocates, and she said she can think of little that could pass the Democratically controlled House and have any chance is the Republican-led Senate.

“I don’t know any bills, but after what has happened at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs and in California, I think we absolutely need to be doing more, but what that is, I don’t know,” she said

Fields said she might offer a bill to deny guns to anyone on the FBI’s terrorist watch list. A bill that would do just that is bottled up in Congress.

“I think we can agree on that in Colorado: People who are too dangerous to fly should not be allowed to buy guns,” she said.

Kopel said the terrorist watch list has proven to be flawed, and getting removed from it has been extremely difficult.

“The problem could be corrected with federal legislation, but that’s not something that could be accomplished by a state bill,” he said. “At the state level, it’s a good example of the cynicism of the Bloomberg lobby, and the ignorant gullibility of some of their legislative acolytes.”

Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174, jbunch@denverpost.com or @joeybunch