Forty Years Ago This Week: In an anticipated move, Colorado’s former Lt. Gov. Nancy Dick launched her candidacy for the U.S. Senate with an official announcement that lambasted the incumbent she was seeking to throw out, Republican Sen. Bill Armstrong. Dick decried Armstrong for his positions on the nuclear arms race, the environment, taxes, abortion and a host of fiscal policy issues.

Gov. Dick Lamm joined Dick on the steps of the state capitol, dimming rampant speculation that he would be making his own bid for the senate seat. Lamm told assembled members of the media and gathered supporters that Armstrong’s conservatism was at odds and out of step with a Colorado that was “clearly a moderate and progressive state.”

Speculated as being the most influential voice to keep the governor from joining the race, Dottie Lamm stood by her husband, calling the U.S. Senate “the most exclusive men’s club in the country” and lauded Dick’s candidacy as a mother and grandmother.

In Dick’s speech, which she would also later deliver on campaign stops in Pueblo and Grand Junction, she said, “Together we will form an unbeatable coalition in support of Colorado’s unique future as a safe, prosperous, and progressive state built on the values of the Rocky Mountain West.”

“The majority of the people of Colorado want to end the nuclear arms race,” added Dick, “and support a mutual and verifiable freeze on the production and deployment of nuclear weapons, and so do I. But Bill Armstrong does not.”

Lee Stillwell, Armstrong’s press secretary, said the senator would not be commenting on Dick’s remarks as he was still on a private trip to the Soviet Union.

“Personally, I think she’s a credible candidate,” said Stillwell. But, he added, Dick very well might be just a purposeful distraction, a stalking horse, for Lamm who’d eventually jump into the race himself.

The novelist Leon Uris, who would serve as Dick’s campaign finance chairman, praised Dick’s political maturity, dedicated service, passion and humility.

“There is no politician in Colorado more familiar with the issues facing Colorado and the West than Nancy,” Uris said. “Whereas Armstrong has embraced the robber baron philosophy … and would gut this state of its beauty and resources and squander it with mine tailings from one end to the other.”

Thirty Years Ago: In the midst of what would later be termed Denver’s “Summer of Violence,” the Denver City Council held a landmark meeting where the body enacted two of the strictest gun control measures in the nation, which were aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of juveniles.

“We intend to get a lot tougher – more creative,” said Council Member Debbie Ortega, “in devising penalties to make kids less eager to tote, or use, guns.”

Under the weapons storage ordinance it would be illegal in Denver for a parent or another adult to give a firearm to a child or to store a firearm where a child could easily access it. If a child succeeded in getting the weapon, the responsible adult would also be charged if they failed to take away the firearm or if they neglected to call the police to take the firearm away.

Attorney David Kopel, an outspoken opponent of the measures and staunch gun-rights advocate, called the measures “too tough” and “over-broad.”

Red Frodine, another opponent, made a sharp attack on the weapons storage ordinance, “I assume you keep fire extinguishers in your home, also locked up and empty … There are varying degrees of insanity, and this bill ranks right up there at the top.”

Despite these criticisms and others from gun rights advocates the two measures each passed on votes of 12-1, the only dissenting vote coming from Bill Scheitler, who was worried about whether he could be re-elected from his increasingly Hispanic district, regardless of how he voted.

“Gun control is a very serious problem in this city,” said Council Member Ramona Martinez. “In my district, there has been an 80% increase in usage in recent years. I’ll be the first to admit that these bills won’t solve the problem, but it’s time for us to quit talking, send a message to the kids that we want the violence stopped.”

Rachael Wright is the author of the Captain Savva Mystery series, with degrees in Political Science and History from Colorado Mesa University, and is a contributing writer to Colorado Politics and The Gazette.