By Dave Workman
Appearing for the first time at the Gun Rights Policy Conference, Ava Flanell, recently elected as a state representative in Colorado’s District 14, and founder and co-host of the Ava Flanell Show, gave the Gun Rights Policy Conference audience an inspiring recount of her personal journey to becoming a Second Amendment activist.
In the process, she told fellow gun rights advocates, “I am here to defend our rights, to challenge government overreach and to build bridges through meaningful conversations that change hearts and minds. This is how we win, not by retreating into echo chambers, but by engaging, educating and inspiring.”
Flanell’s journey began back in 2012 when she went shooting with her mother, a firearms instructor. She discovered she was “a natural.” Sadly, her mom passed away just days later.
After spending several years in the east, Flanell returned to Colorado to be with her family, and start a business. She also became a firearms instructor, and an activist. She launched a podcast “to give the firearms community a voice.”
“I quickly realized how little the public understood about the relentless threats facing the second amendment rights,” she explained.
Her eyes really opened up when she first testified against gun control legislation in 2023 which sought to ban so-called “assault weapons.” She waited ten hours to speak for two minutes, but she noted that the gun bill was defeated that year, and again the following year.
What she saw that day was a room empty of women standing in opposition, very few gun rights organizations represented and very little public realization what was happening.
She began meeting with lawmakers, explaining why they should vote against gun control measures, and came to realize “an enormous disconnect between the capitol and the people.”
She also realized that with Democrats having a stranglehold on the legislature, the balance of power needed changing.
Flanell added a political segment to her podcast, and eventually, for the first time in years, saw Centennial State voters elect Republicans to gain seats in the state House, breaking the Democrats’ super majority.
“It proved what we can achieve,” she recalled.
As vice president for Legislative Engagement at the Colorado State Shooting Association, Flanell was involved in filing a federal lawsuit against Senate Bill 25-003, which she described as “one of the most anti-gun bills to hit Colorado.” Her group has also teamed up with the Second Amendment Foundation, National Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, Magnum Shooting Center of Colorado Springs, the Colorado State Shooting Association, and a private citizen, Zachary Langston in a challenge of the state’s 6.5 percent excise tax on the retail sale of any firearm, firearm precursor part, or ammunition.
Looking ahead, Flanell acknowledged she doesn’t know what the future holds.
“But I do know this,” she said. “I will never stop fighting for the Second Amendment, and I hope that my journey inspires others to take up this cause with me. Together we can defend freedom, safeguard our communities and insure that the rights we cherish today are preserved for generations to come.”
Workman is editor-in-chief of TheGunMag.com
