By the time you read this, Colorado will have diminished one of your constitutional rights in a way that no other right is. No, you will not have to wait three days to speak your mind, protest our government, or practice your faith. You will not have to wait three days to insist the government have a search warrant before they enter the sanctity of your home. You can still remain silent immediately when subjected to custodial interrogation by The Man, and you can insist on an attorney right then and there before you choose to talk. Even at a merely statutory level in Colorado, you do not have to wait any days before ending the life of an unborn baby up to – and including – the moment of birth.

But today, on the actions of only Democrat legislators and their faux-libertarian governor, your ability to exercise your right to bears arms will have to wait for three days. Why three? Nobody knows – or at least, nobody is saying. Two would be too few to prevent those who attempt to lawfully purchase guns through the highly regulated firearms market from doing something bad to themselves or others, and four is unnecessary to prevent the same. Three days.

Take a look at the many shootings reported by the Gazette during the past month. How many involve firearms legally purchased within the three days prior to their use in a violent crime? Good luck finding one. Remember, too, that this rights-infringing law also would have had no impact on the mass shootings at: Columbine, Aurora Theater, STEM, King Soopers and Club Q. It is a feel-good law for those on the left who do not value the Second Amendment and who are driven by the inane mantra “we must do something – anything.”

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As you read this, another law takes effect that allows those who facilitate the exercise of our constitutional rights to be successfully sued on scant, specious evidence – by those with questionable standing – for an unjustifiably extended period of time. It’s a standard so low it could only exist for two purposes: 1) to make plaintiff’s lawyers richer, and 2) to destroy an industry.

No, it will not be any easier to sue any of the overtly left-leaning mainstream media outlets who use their platforms to advance their ideological world views. Nor will it be easier (for the moment) to sue places of worship for daring to share a non-DEI version of the Good Word. And as we saw from the rampant and wanton lawlessness of the post-George Floyd riot – er – protesters, only they will be allowed to sue to avenge being held accountable by unsympathetic laws. Likewise, it is still no easier to sue the sometimes-crafty, sometimes-lazy attorneys who represent us during interrogations and when we are accused of crimes by the government.

Instead, those who are engaged in any way in the “firearm industry” are at risk of being sued for “harm” caused by a firearm. The law creates a presumption of liability that exists for no other industry.

Imagine if the same rules applied to those who sought to hold “automobile industry members” accountable for drunk-driving injuries and fatalities. Or to members of the marijuana or alcohol industries who inebriate those same drunk-driving killers. We don’t do that for booze or weed, both substances not mentioned in the Constitution.

Prepare for the growing cottage industry of firearm business lawsuits right here in Colorado. Attorneys will get rich off the misery of victims granted a special law to take out their rage against companies with less responsibility for their loss than Colorado’s seemingly inept parole board has for the many parolees who go on to commit additional crimes. Heck, one of those “safe-to-be-paroled” convicts just drove a car into and over two parole officers, resulting in the death of a mother. Parole board’s reaction? “Oops, not our fault.”

Oct. 1 marks the beginning of the end of the firearms industry in Colorado as we have known it. Not a single gun will be removed from an evil-doer’s hand. Not a single violent crime will have been averted.

The scariest fact is the Lefties under the Gold Dome want to do much, much more to erode law-abiding citizens’ constitutional rights. Unless we change who we send to elected office, they will be able to rightfully claim “this is what Colorado wants.”

George Brauchler is the former district attorney for the 18th Judicial District. He also is an Owens Early Criminal Justice Fellow at the Common Sense Institute and president of the Advance Colorado Academy, which identifies, trains and connects conservative leaders in Colorado. He hosts “The George Brauchler Show” on 710KNUS Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Follow him on Twitter: @GeorgeBrauchler.