A Colorado sheriff says that gun rights activists who mocked background check laws that forced a gun buyback program to be canceled are missing the “bigger good” that the law is doing.

The Boulder Daily Camera reported on Tuesday that a buyback event put on by the community organizing group Together Colorado had been shut down because Sheriff Joe Pelle found that the state’s new background check law would make it virtually impossible for people to anonymously turn in guns.

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“The bottom line is what we anticipated doing would still be legal — but procedurally we can’t follow through with it at this time,” Pelle explained.

Together Colorado had planned to give gun owners as much $100 in gift cards for turning over each firearm. The group had raised $8,000 for the event.

“Sheriff Pelle has stood strong for this event, has done tremendous work to make it happen and he is as disappointed as we are,” Together Colorado’s Sheila Dierks said in an email to supporters.

Conservative websites like The Daily Caller, Fox News and Guns Save Lives seized on the news to suggest that gun control advocates had gone too far.

“The liberal douches in Boulder organized a buyback to happen at the Boulder county Sheriff’s parking lot,” one commenter at AK Files forum wrote. “FAIL FAIL FAIL

Hahahahahahahhahahahahahah. F*cking fantastic!”

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Pelle, however, told KCNC that gun rights activists were missing the point.

“I think the background checks are serving a bigger good than the buyback program,” the sheriff said.

For its part, Together Colorado considers the buyback event to be “postponed.” It plans to work with state lawmakers to fix the law and facilitate future gun buybacks.

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Watch this video from KCNC, broadcast July 25, 2013.