Rich Wyatt was elected chair of the Jefferson County Republican Party on Saturday, February 8. This is a major comeback for Wyatt, who is best known as the subject of American Guns, a canceled Discovery Channel reality show following Wyatt and his family as they ran the Wheat Ridge firearm store, Gunsmoke Guns.
The show was scrapped after two seasons in December 2012, days after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. That marked the beginning of a long downfall for Wyatt. The same year his show was canned, Wyatt surrendered his firearms license due to violations of federal laws and regulations.
However, Wyatt didn't close his firearms business. Instead, he conspired with another gun store to run Gunsmoke under a straw license, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. He was arrested for the scheme in 2016 and, two years later, sentenced to 78 months in prison for conspiracy, dealing firearms without a license and failing to report $1.1 million in income to the IRS.
After appealing his conviction, Wyatt was released from custody in 2020, having been credited for one year in prison and being given one year of supervised release. He immediately dove into conservative politics, unsuccessfully asking Trump for a presidential pardon to get rid of his felon status so that he could legally own firearms again. He also utilized Trump's rhetoric to explain away his crimes.
"I was clearly a victim of a witch hunt by the federal government," Wyatt said in a YouTube video on December 31, 2020, denying the gun-related charges. He did admit to the tax evasion, though: "I didn't file the taxes. I honestly didn't think anybody would ever go to prison for that."
Wyatt's YouTube page hasn't been updated lately, but its content spans old guns and right-wing politics. This chat with Ted Nugent had both.
YouTube/Gunsmoke Guns TV
Wyatt joined another losing battle six months later, becoming the lead fundraiser for Republican Congressional candidate Laurel Imer's campaign in July 2021. Imer went on to lose the party primary in June 2022, coming last among three candidates and receiving just 16.2 percent of votes.
In addition to Imer's loss, the 2022 election brought major gains for Democrats in Colorado, leading to a Democratic political dominance not seen in the state since 1938. With elections seemingly failing him, Wyatt turned to calling for political violence.
"It's almost time to switch from ballots to bullets," Wyatt said during a podcast interview on December 28, 2022, as reported by 9News. "Because that's what wins the hearts and minds. And there's no arguing with a bullet. You can argue about ballots, but you cannot argue with bullets. ...We are to attack and defend our country and our Constitution at all costs."
Wyatt's far-right messages eventually gained him power among local Republican groups. He advocated for the ousting of then-State GOP chair Kristi Burton Brown, saying she "hates America." Burton Brown was later replaced by the current chair, Dave Williams, who has caused constant controversy for, among other things, making anti-LGBTQ statements, using party resources to promote his own run for Congress, and generally fracturing the party.
When Republican officials launched a failed attempt to remove Williams from party leadership last summer, Wyatt came to his defense, urging outgoing JeffCo GOP Chair Nancy Pallozzi to back down after she initiated a petition to remove Williams. Pallozzi did not seek another term as chair, leading to Wyatt filling her spot.
Wyatt succeeding Pallozzi marks another step in the Colorado Republican Party's shift to the right, and fits right in with the increasingly controversial JeffCo GOP. The local party chapter's recent claims to fame include censuring Pallozzi for moving against Williams and unsuccessfully trying to host a fundraiser with current Homeland Security head Kristi Noem shortly after the then-governor of South Dakota admitted to murdering her puppy over behavioral issues.
Wyatt's new leadership position has inspired ire from the other side of the aisle.
"In no world should someone who encourages political violence be elected as a leader in any context, let alone a leader of a county-wide political party," the Colorado Democratic Party said in a February 12 statement. "Sadly, the Colorado Republican Party has been taken over by the far-right – but we aren’t going to let them take over Colorado."
The Colorado Republican Party and the JeffCo Republican Party did not respond to requests for comment.
