The Denver Post selected nine Democrats and Republicans running for governor of Colorado in 2018 – based on factors including fundraising activity and campaign organization – and interviewed them about their views on guns.

Democrats

One idea Noel Ginsburg has to reduce gun violence is to create a safety program similar to what Colorado has in place for motorcycle riders.

To operate a motorcycle legally in the state, bikers must pass a test or attend a safety course.

Ginsburg said he opted for the class when he got his motorcycle endorsement and that its warnings about red lights and stop signs “saved my life a number of years later” when a car blew through one while he was riding his bike.

In the same vein, Ginsburg suggested some kind of safety certification program for gun owners — although he admitted he still was working on the details. (Proof of training is required to obtain a concealed weapon permit in Colorado, but it isn’t mandatory for typical gun owners.)

As with most of the Democrats in the field, Ginsburg supports Colorado’s 15-round limit on magazines and a ban on “bump stocks,” which increase the rate of fire for semi-automatic weapons and were found on the guns of the Las Vegas shooter.

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But he said his work with at-risk children has taught him that investments in childhood services often can be the best antidote to violence — mass shootings or otherwise.

“Kids do horrible things when they have no hope,” he said.

Former state Sen. Mike Johnston knows better than most the 2013 debate over gun control in Colorado.

He co-sponsored the bill that expanded background checks to include private gun sales, and he voted in favor of the measure that imposed a 15-round limit on magazines — both of which were signed into law by Gov. John Hickenlooper.

“Here in Colorado, we actually took action,” Johnston said. “We knew it was going to be controversial. We knew folks were going to fight it.”

But he said both measures can have an impact on gun violence, one by deterring criminals from buying guns and the other by making mass shootings harder to commit with the use of legally purchased magazines.

“It’s not a lot, but it gives you three, four, five seconds to get away,” Johnston said of the potential reload time.

He argues the restrictions do not infringe on the 2nd Amendment and that Congress should follow Colorado’s lead. “I think those are common-sense,” he added.

But as a longtime gun owner, Johnston said it’s still incumbent on lawmakers to validate “some of the values” of 2nd Amendment advocates when they consider changes to gun regulations.

“I do believe in the right to self-defense,” he said. “I do believe that if someone breaks into your house, you ought to be able to shoot them.”

When Cary Kennedy talks about guns, one statistic she highlights is the number of Colorado children who require trips to the hospital because of firearms.

“Every four to five days, a child is brought to an emergency room in Colorado with a gunshot wound,” she said.

A recent study from Children’s Hospital Colorado confirms the figure: In 2014 and 2015, a total of 148 children under the age of 15 were admitted to hospitals across the state for gunshot wounds — a rate of one every 4.9 days.

Nearly all were accidental, and a campaign aide said one of Kennedy’s goals is “to raise awareness about keeping guns out of the reach of children” — although she wasn’t specific as to what she would do.

More generally, her platform on gun policy is consistent with much of the rest of the Democratic field. She would support a state ban on bump stocks and oppose efforts to make it easier to buy suppressors, often called “silencers.”

“Many lives are saved because people know when to take cover after hearing gunshots,” Kennedy wrote in response to a candidate survey by The Post.

There has been some debate since Las Vegas about whether more lives would have been lost if the shooter had used a suppressor, a theory offered by Hillary Clinton and echoed by Kennedy.

Analysis by Politifact found that a suppressor would have made little difference in Las Vegas, although the device could worsen other kinds of mass shootings.

Nearly every candidate running for governor says dealing with mental health is a critical factor in deterring gun violence.

The difference with Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne is that the former health care executive already is working toward that goal.

She oversees a state program that seeks to better connect primary care doctors with their counterparts in behavioral health. The idea is to reduce the number of mentally ill patients who slip through the cracks.

“If you have a behavioral health problem, you don’t often wake up and say, ‘Hey, I think I’ll just make an appointment with a psychologist,’” Lynne said. But those patients still will often see their primary care doctors, she added.

So Colorado is trying to make it easier for the two branches of medicine to communicate, either by putting them near one another or by establishing online communications.

“What we’re trying to do … is integrate primary care and behavioral health, so they’re not two separate streams of treatment,” she said.

Funding for this effort comes from a $65 million federal grant that Colorado landed before Lynne joined the Hickenlooper administration.

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But Lynne said her office is in charge of executing the program and that she would “amplify and expand” it if she were elected governor.

More broadly, Lynne has been outspoken in her support of several gun-control measures, such as limits on magazine sizes or prohibitions on military-style weapons.

Of the top-tier Democrats in the race, U.S. Rep. Jared Polis is the least enthusiastic about new gun regulations, although he still hews closer to them than most Republicans.

The Boulder lawmaker had doubts about a 2013 federal bill that sought to ban dozens of military-style firearms — saying at the time that it would “make it harder for Colorado families to defend themselves” — and he has supported legislation that would make it easier for consumers to buy firearms across state lines.

The approach fits with Polis’ more libertarian views — he once sponsored a bill that would restore gun ownership rights to people convicted of marijuana offenses.

Asked whether he supports Colorado’s 2013 limit on magazine sizes, Polis would not answer directly and instead said: “I’ve never shown any desire to repeal that.”

There are areas, however, where Polis said he’d like to see more regulation.

He joined a bipartisan bill this month that would outlaw bump stock devices used by the Las Vegas shooter — although his measure would impose less prison time than a rival bill backed by fellow congressional Democrats from Colorado, Diana DeGette and Ed Perlmutter.

He also called for tougher laws to “keep guns out of the hands of domestic violence offenders.”

Polis, a self-described “big supporter” of universal background checks, decried the general lack of compromise on gun issues generally.

“There is a false dichotomy that too many politicians on both sides use for self-serving reasons,” Polis said. “I think it’s entirely consistent to protect and expand our personal freedoms and also increase gun safety.”

Republicans

As the district attorney who prosecuted the Aurora theater shooter, George Brauchler saw firsthand the devastation a mass shooting can cause.

“Nobody knows that case like I know that case,” Brauchler said of his 2015 pursuit of the death penalty for killer James Holmes.

The effort ultimately failed — a jury opted for life imprisonment instead — and some critics have questioned whether Brauchler took that route for publicity’s sake when a plea bargain from the defense was on the table.

He long has denied that accusation, arguing that death was the right sentence for Holmes, and Brauchler said recently that the experience only has hardened his belief that gun control measures don’t deter mass shootings.

“(Limiting) magazine capacity wouldn’t have changed a single thing in that case,” Brauchler said.

While he acknowledged that Holmes’ rampage “started with a 100-round drum,” Brauchler argued that a 15-round magazine limit like the one Colorado passed in 2013 would have had a minimal impact on the Aurora shooting because Holmes would have just reloaded.

“All told, he brought 700 rounds of ammunition in that theater,” Brauchler said.

The district attorney also questioned the efficacy of background checks, as Holmes “went through background checks each of the four times he purchased those guns” for the massacre.

He added: “I cannot envision a constitutional law that would have prevented that mass murder. I cannot think of one.”

Instead, Brauchler has advocated a more expansive approach to gun use.

As with many of the Republicans running for governor, Brauchler wants to make it easier for gun owners to buy suppressors and he believes that lawful gun owners should be allowed to carry concealed firearms without a permit.

To deter mass shootings or other violence, Victor Mitchell wants more people to carry firearms in more places while strengthening penalties for gun misuse.

He called for an elimination of what he described as “gun-free zones” and said Colorado school districts should have the right to decide whether trained teachers can carry firearms into the classroom.

“You would signal to every person in that community that these schools are no longer soft targets,” Mitchell said of districts that took that step.

Asked about the potential for accidents, he predicted the risk would be “extremely low” because educators would get the proper training beforehand.

As a way to encourage responsible gun use, Mitchell said he was “generally supportive” of universal background checks and that he’d like to see the prison sentence double for any crime committed with a gun.

“We should make it very clear that if you commit any kind of a crime with a firearm, you are going to jail for a very long time,” Mitchell said.

In his own life, he said his family used to keep a handgun in the home but that they sold it last year for safety reasons.

“For our family, it was the right thing to do,” Mitchell said.

Doug Robinson said his outlook on gun policy comes from a career in business.

“If things work, we should probably do it,” said the former investment banker.

As he sees it, that means Colorado should keep its policy of universal background checks. “We all want to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and those that have mental illness,” he said.

Conversely, he added, Colorado should reconsider the decision to limit magazines to 15 rounds: “I just haven’t seen that they are effective.”

As for the bump stocks used by the Las Vegas shooter, Robinson said he’s still making up his mind about whether it’s the right policy to ban them.

“I don’t know yet. I want to learn more about that. I think that’s a healthy debate,” Robinson said.

The views put Robinson to the left of some of Republican rivals, although he was quick to emphasize his overall support of the 2nd Amendment.

“Responsible gun use is something that has been part of Colorado life since the very beginning,” he said.

Robinson said another way to deal with gun violence is to address other social trends, including drug use.

“We have had a decline in family life in America and a decline of church attendance and a decline of people involved in community and other activities,” Robinson said.

As state treasurer, Walker Stapleton doesn’t deal much with guns. Nor has the 2nd Amendment been a major rallying point of his establishment-aligned campaign.

But Stapleton’s approach to guns mirrors that of Republican rival George Brauchler on at least one important point — both oppose the 2013 Colorado law that expanded background checks to include private sales.

“I would sign it. I would absolutely sign it,” said Stapleton when asked whether he would back a bill repealing the law.

“I believe prior to 2013 we had a system of background checks that was working,” Stapleton said. He did not elaborate on why that process was more effective.

Before Colorado changed the law, background checks were conducted for sales at stores or guns shows, but not private exchanges.

Last year, Colorado conducted about 20,000 background checks on private sales both inside and outside gun shows. About 450 were denied.

Stapleton’s solution to gun violence was to focus more on mental health.

“One of the things that I would be in favor of as governor is spending a greater amount of resources than we currently spend on mental health,” Stapleton said.

He did not provide details on where he would allocate the money, other than to say that he would support the creation of a mental health task force.

Where they stand on guns

The Denver Post sent a survey to candidates running for governor. Here are their answers.