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Colorado should be Ground Zero for a renewed commitment to new gun control legislation. It has witnessed two of the worst mass shootings in US history over the past 13 years, and in both of which, children were among the victims. In the Aurora massacre, the stockpile that James Holmes was able to legally amass included a gas powered assault rifle with a 100-round clip (which would've been banned under the 1999 Assault Weapons Ban), and scores of online purchases including 6,000 rounds of ammunition,

"...bulletproof vests and other tactical gear, and a high-capacity “drum magazine” large enough to hold 100 rounds and capable of firing 50 or 60 rounds per minute — a purchase that would have been restricted under proposed legislation that has been stalled in Washington for more than a year."

But none of this suggests to the governor of Colorado, Democrat John Hickenlooper, that stricter gun control laws should be considered.

STEPHANOPOULOS: [...] As you can imagine, Governor, the debate over whether this could have been prevented has already began. You probably heard the comments of Mayor Bloomberg of New York, who made headlines on Friday with his calls for tougher gun laws. Other people, several in your state, saying that perhaps if someone else in that theater had a gun, the killer could have been stopped. Does it make you think at this point that you need to take another look at Colorado’s gun laws?

HICKENLOOPER: You know, I’m sure that that is going to happen, but I look at this, this wasn’t a Colorado problem, this is a human problem, right? And how we can have such a warped individual and no one around him be aware? You know, I worry that if we got rid all of the guns -- and certainly we have so many guns in this country, we do have a lot more than gun violence than many other countries -- but even if you didn't have access to guns, this guy was diabolical. Right? He would have found explosives, he would have found something else, some sort of poisonous gas, he would have done something to create this horror.

What an absurd hypothetical. I'd really like to know what "explosives" or "poison gas" Hickenlooper thinks Holmes could've "found" that would allow him to kill or injure 70 people in a few seconds. The fact is, bomb making requires patience, materials, skill, testing -- and a deployment strategy. Same goes for poison gas. Which is why we haven't had 36 mass poison gas attacks or mass bombings over the past 30 years.

Also, the notion that gun control laws don't work isn't supported by the evidence. After the Dublane school massacre in 1997, the UK effectively banned guns -- and they haven't had a mass shooting event since.

How does Hickenlooper explain that?

In response to questions about Occupy Wall Street-related protests at the Denver capitol, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (D) said that protesters couldn't stay past 10 p.m., offering a potential fire as his excuse.

“Come at 6 o’clock in the morning, make all the free speech you want until 10 at night,” said Hickenlooper, who stepped away from a charity event to talk to the reporters. “But we can’t let you stay overnight. With all these tents … with these tents all next to each other. They could catch fire.

“What happens if suddenly one catches on fire, suddenly four or five tents burn. Who are you guys going to blame? You guys are going to be all over us like white on rice. In a second. The whole community will say how can you take that risk?”

The excuse seems quite far-fetched and a fire breaking out seems like a very small reason to limit the free speech and assembly rights of citizens. While camping in the area is a misdemeanor, Hickenlooper and others are suggesting that the crimes that some on Wall Street and in state capitols are getting away with are less of a concern than failure to get a permit for camping.

The story above also includes several insinuations by the reporter that the protesters included significant numbers of homeless people or that they were breaking the law in significant ways. Neither of these allegations is substantiated in the report.