Franklin Sain, a 42-year-old Colorado Springs man, was arrested last Friday for threatening Colorado lawmaker Rep. Rhonda Fields (D-Aurora) over gun bills that she is currently sponsoring and that recently passed in the state House.
9News has obtained the arrest affidavit and now the full scope of threats allegedly left by Sain over the course of nine days are viewable. The threat of violence and use of racist language is prevalent throughout the messages, however the messages appear to get more confrontational by the ninth day. WARNING: The language used is explicit and extremely offensive.
All misspelled words and incorrect grammar usage appears as written in the affidavit. Some offensive words have been censored.
An email sent to Fields, dated Wednesday, Feb. 13, 10:08 a.m. with a subject line of "GUN CONTROL" reads:
THANKS N----- C---! You really think passing any more laws will stop gun violence? You and that other N----- OBAMA are living in fantasy land. Chicago and DC have the most strict gun laws in the nation and more people die from gun violence than anywhere. You f---ing c---s are pathetic excuse for civil servants. Hell, n-----s love shooting themselves with GATS, isn't that what your people call it. What you have done here is creater criminals out of law abiding citizens, and put yourself out of a job. You politicians have no idea what you are even doing anyway, do you know how long it takes some to change a magazine, less than a second, so what if some with experience decides to flip out and bring their gun in with 5 or so 10 round magazines, they can do the same amount of damage. Limiting magazine sizes is stupididty, [sic] and will not work. I for one have 100+ 30 ronds mags and 150 round drums. I will never give those up and I am far from being some whack job. What I am pissed off at c--- n------ who know nothing about what they are doing and knee jerk react rather than look for a solution to fix the problem and enforce existing laws. We will all work very hard to ensure there is no job for you 2014. We will make it our mission to ensure each Democrat who supports this law is also out of a job.
Later that day on Feb. 13 another message from the same email arrived in Rep. Fields inbox reading:
Do you actually think that Americans will put up with this... I gurantee there is not enough law enforcement, or military to stop an all out overthrow of this government if you or that N----- President tries to take our guns... Guarantee we will make World War I and II look like childs play, many will die... be prepared...
On Feb. 14 and through most of Feb. 15, the emails are charged with racist epithets and also become less detailed, but then a final email on the late afternoon of Feb. 15 with more detailed threats arrived, according to the arrest affidavit:
Watching you live, you are a pathetic N----- C--- alnog with MCCANN, two c---- who are way overdue a good f---ing... and hopefully somebody Gifords both of your asses with a gun....... you are both pieces of monkey sh-- who have no right or reason to be in the position you are.... f--- off c---......
The final email references Rep. Beth McCann (D-Denver) along with Rep. Fields, who are co-sponsoring House Bill 1229 which calls for universal background checks for all gun purchases, including private sales.
It also references former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who was shot in the head by 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner outside of a grocery store in 2011 during a meeting with constituents.
The affidavit then says on Thursday, Feb. 21 at around 11:00 a.m., Rep. Fields office received a threatening letter in the mail, one of the most deranged and terrifying of all the messages as it also references Fields' daughter:
Rhonda Fields, N----- C---, Mother of -----, Death to Both, All N----- Back to Africa, F--- you, F--- Your Laws, I Keep my 30 Round Magazines, There Will Be Blood!, I'm Coming For You, N----- B----
The affidavit goes on to describe threatening voicemail messages allegedly left by Sain. However, Sain, in the affidavit, told police that although he does use the email that the threatening, racist emails came from and admitted to sending the Colorado lawmaker emails, he claims he did not make any threats in those emails. "I did not make any threats in my emails," Sain stated to the police. "I know my emails are traceable and I wouldn't have done that... I'm just voicing some frustrations about a topic I consider sacred, especially after wearing a uniform and fighting for this country. When you have media pushing blame on gun owners, that just brings my emotions out."
Sain also said that sent some of the emails while watching Rep. Fields on television, but Sain denied that he used such explicit language and also denied that he was a racist. "I don't use words like that. C--- and other racist names, I don't sue that word when I talk. I'm not a racist. Those emails are not who I am."
Rep. Fields spoke out on the threats on 850 KOA this morning saying, "I do not know him. All I know is that the kinds of things that he said were very inappropriate, alarming and very intimidating."
"At first I was really taken back by the tone and the language in it, especially the racial overtones," Rep. Fields added. "I've just never seen anything like that before. No one has ever said those things or written those kinds of things towards me in the last two and a half years that I have been serving the state. So, I was like, 'Wow, this is unbelievable.'"
On Facebook, SofTec Solutions, where Sain works, posted this afternoon that Sain has been suspended:
SofTec Solutions, Inc. has been informed of allegations against our employee, Mr. Frank Sain. We are shocked to learn of these allegations and are taking this matter very seriously. If true, these actions are highly inappropriate and will not be tolerated. Pending SofTec’s investigation into this matter, Mr. Sain has been suspended immediately from further duties at SofTec. SofTec Solutions is a minority-owned, small business and we employ a large diverse workforce. We will absolutely not tolerate any racial, sexual, gender-based slurs or threats of violence by employees.
Rep. Fields told Fox31 that she is scared for her life and that she has taken a restraining order out against Sain. “I’m still very afraid, just kind of shaken, my soul."
Fox31 was the first to report Monday that Franklin Sain, a 42-year-old Colorado Springs man, was arrested for making threats against Rep. Rhonda Fields (D-Aurora), the sponsor of two of the four controversial gun measures that passed the state House last week.
“I am grateful for the prompt work of the Colorado State Patrol in bringing this suspect to justice," Fields said in a statement. "I also thank the Denver Police Department, which was instrumental in the investigation. I will not be deterred by threats.”
Monday afternoon, Fields tweeted:
Thank you for your aggressive police work,surveillance & protection of my families safety. There is no such thing as an idle threat #coleg
— Rhonda Fields (@reprhondafields) February 25, 2013
Sain is already out of jail on $30,000 bail and, according to 9News, works at SofTec Solutions in Englewood, Colorado.
Fields is the sponsor of House Bill 1224 which bans high-capacity gun magazines and limits capacity to 15 bullets, House Bill 1229 which requires universal background checks for all private gun sales in the state, including private sales.
Fields and McCann were not the only Democrats to get threats over recent gun legislation in the state. Before the bills passed, 9News reported that several Democrats received death threats during the legislation hearing process. Freshman Rep. Joe Salazar (D-Thornton) was one of those lawmakers that received this threat via his phone's voicemail:
Hey Salazar, you f--king fascist, you want to outlaw magazines? Come and f--king take them. Are you willing to kill the f--king outlaw magazines, because you will f--king die.
The threat to Salazar continues to be investigated. But Salazar, who read a transcript of the voicemail to the House floor during the bill debate period, said that he hoped the anonymous caller would have to go through a background check before he got a gun.
Salazar also remained unswayed by the angry words. "This doesn't help their cause," Salazar said about the threats. "It's not going to help their cause here in Colorado, and it's not going to help their cause across the nation."
Last week the Colorado House passed four bold, new gun bills, the two above as well as House Bill 1228 which requires a fee for gun buyers to pay in order to cover the cost of the background checks performed by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and House Bill 1226 which bans guns on all public college campuses.
All the passed bills now head to the state Senate for a vote as several more gun control measures are readied which have not come up for debate yet in the legislature but are sure to cause more tension between gun control and gun rights activists including a controversial proposal that would make gun owners, manufacturers and distributors of firearms civilly liable for damages caused by their weapons.
Many of the gun bills up for debate are expected to become law as Democrats control both chambers of the state legislature and Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper has voiced support for much of the gun legislation up for consideration.
Colorado, home to two of the bloodiest mass shootings in American history -- the Aurora movie theater shooting in 2012 and the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 -- has recently taken the lead in the national debate that is ongoing over gun control.
Despite the threats to some Democratic lawmakers, the measures appear to be popular amongst the majority of Coloradans as two recent polls from Project New America and The Denver Post show. In both polls, 60 percent or more Colorado voters support proposals that would ban assault rifles, limit high-capacity magazines and require universal background checks on all gun sales.
Many of Colorado's police chiefs are also in favor of stricter gun control laws in the state. CBS4 spoke with Tom Deland, head of the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, who said that police chiefs across the state support the universal background check bill and the high-capacity magazine ban bill that would limit firearm magazines to only 15 bullets. “Do we believe that this is going to solve the entire issue?" Tom Deland asked CBS4. "We know that it’s not, but it is one important step." Deland says that his organization supports ideas like these that keep Colorado citizens, and its police, safer.
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