(CNN) � Voters booted out two Democratic state lawmakers in Colorado on Tuesday in a heated recall effort that generated national headlines as a referendum on the renewed gun control debate.

Both lawmakers voted in favor of the state's unpopular new gun laws earlier this year, sparking a wave of protest that got their names on the ballot for the state's first-ever recall at the state level.

State Senate President John Morse, who was a little more than a year shy of finishing his final term in office, conceded after he narrowly failed to win enough votes to keep his seat representing Colorado Springs. He was term-limited and would not have been able to run for re-election next year.


According to results from the secretary of state, 51% of voters in his district said "yes" to the recall, while 49% said "no." He'll be replaced by Republican Bernie Herpin.

Morse's colleague, state Sen. Angela Giron of Pueblo, was also on the ballot and conceded late Tuesday night. She lost in a 56%-44% yes-no vote, and will be replaced by Republican George Rivera.

Giron's loss came as a bigger surprise, as her district is more Democratic than Morse's.

The new laws in Colorado, which took effect in July, limit firearm ammunition magazines to 15 rounds and require universal background checks on all firearm sales.

National groups on both sides of the gun rights debate jumped into the race, pouring money into a state level contest that normally would generate few headlines beyond Colorado's borders. But gun rights activists and gun control supporters nationwide saw the election as a chance to score an electoral victory for their respective movements.

Following the deadly movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado last July and the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut in December, the Democratic-controlled legislature and Democratic governor quickly ushered the laws into place by mid-March.

A former police chief, Morse spent the past six weeks going door to door, asking voters to help him keep his job.

"You have to take it personally to some extent," Morse told CNN in an interview before the election. "But I also understand this is way bigger than me. I need to do it for those way bigger reasons."

While campaigning, Morse argued he doesn't have any regrets in his fight for tighter gun laws. Asked why he advocated for new regulations in the face of fierce opposition, he pointed to the real catalyst of the renewed firearm debate.

"The vision of 6- and 7-year-olds in Newtown being carted out on stretchers, with their Power Rangers T-shirts now covered by a white sheet," he said. "We can't continue to bury our children."

Giron also said she was "proud" that she voted for the gun laws.

"This is not the wrong business to be fearful about doing the right thing," Giron told CNN before the election.

But in a state with rich gun culture and tradition, a majority of voters, however, disagree with the laws. According to a Quinnipiac University poll last month, voters in the state opposed the gun laws by a margin of 54%-40%. Democrats were supportive of the measures, 78%-16%, while Republicans more strongly opposed them, 89% to 7%.

More importantly for electoral purposes, a majority of independent voters opposed the laws, 56%-39%.

Tim Knight, founder of the Basic Freedom Defense Fund, the group that initiated the recall against Morse, labeled the election as a "victory" for the state and those "who have been subject to the overreach of a Democrat agenda on guns, taxes, and accountability to the people."

"Since day one, they said it couldn't be done," Knight continued. "Tonight, this is a victory for the people of Colorado, and we share this victory with them."

The National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund, which helped mount the recall effort, also celebrated the results as a major milestone.

"(NRA-PVF) is proud to have stood with the men and women in Colorado who sent a clear message that their Second Amendment rights are not for sale," read a statement from the group.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, co-chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, argued the gun laws are still in place in Colorado, despite the lawmakers' ouster. The pro-gun control group vowed to continue supporting like-minded candidates, hoping to tamp down fears that the recall sent a message to lawmakers across the country.

"For the last 20 years, the NRA has had the field to themselves in contests like these, but no more. We're committed to backing elected officials across the country who are willing to face these attacks because they agree with Americans about the need for better background checks," Bloomberg said in the statement.

Gov. John Hickenlooper said he was "certainly disappointed" by the outcome but acknowledged voters in the two Senate districts "have spoken."

WooHoo!

Maybe Hickenlooper will be next.

So what is going to happen to change the laws that brought on the recall?

now,that's the real Crux of the Matter!

Ole Bloomberg is sure getting the airtime over this, saying he's going to invest a few more millions of his billions on buying...er uh.... soliciting support.... from judges, local officials and other mayors across the country

Nothing, any time soon. The Democrats still have the majority in the Colorado State Senate. It might make Democrats more determined to undo the voter suppression laws that kept several people from voting, this time around, though.

What?
The dems want more illegals and dead folk voting?

^^ Love it lol

Dam, I hate those voter suppression laws.

Voter suppression laws will be the new racist, homophobe, xenophobe, islamaphobe...

Given all the convolutions over the audacious attempts to bring about 'better background checks' on people purchasing fire arms in Colorado by those who want absolutely no checks at all, my imagination began to imagine some scenarios while watching the latest news images of the floods rampaging there of people trying to stem the rising waters, cars floating off with people in them; of rescue efforts to those trapped by the floodwaters and all those tearful re-unions of friends, neighbours, families, etc. picked up by boats and helicopters.
Harrowing experiences, to say the least, by all those caught up in the terrible flooding. Many of these images, surprisingly were from the dreaded drones flying about, captured for the use by news broadcasts.
Now, as 'heart rendering' as some of those images were, I'm surprised by possible scenes not shown, given the near rabid fever pitch of the 'pro-gun' citizens that supposedly make up the majority of people in Colorado, I didn't see any people/ 'patriots' fleeing their homes carrying their gun collections; whole families weighed down by lugging whole arsenals of weapons; no scenes of people rushing to embrace, not their loved relations but their rifles or pistols...No scenes of some outraged 'redneck' showing his frustration at the rising water around his home by firing his automatic rifle at the water while screaming about an invasion; no dutiful wife or children at his side loading other weapons or him to shoot. No scenes of people being rescued by boat from their cars or trucks, handing their rifles, shotguns, machine guns, etc. to the rescuers first with agonized voice yelling, "here, take my guns first!"...no scenes showing some tearful child clutching a rocket launcher sobbing to the reporter, "Dis is awl what ma Pa gave me before he done drowned in dat crick over dere. He said, son, take ma 'olBetsy' here an save yerself!' before da water took himself under..." No scenes of outraged anti-droners trapped on a drowning hill top with water over their waists and rising fast, loading and firing their assorted guns and rocket launchers at the drones photographing them...nothing.
Makes me wonder how many guns have drowned in the floods...no reports of drowned or lost guns at all! Perhaps the NRA will have special services for all the presumed drowned guns after the 'liberal' amount of flooding throughout the state and perhaps the NRA will erect a tomb to the unknown drowned gun in the middle of Boulder once everything has dried out. Perhaps the NRA could also come out with a special NRA Congressional Gun Medal to give out to those who rescued all their guns without a thought to their own or anyone else's life....Ahhh, what we are not seeing on the news....Guns First!