The law did not even do that.  The law merely made it a tad bit more inconvenient to get whatever capacity you wanted.  This cheap symbolism was paid for in lost manufacturing and hospitality jobs and wages.

Little wonder that the blue collar district tossed the Bloomberg toadie.

Short answer is, they didn't. Rather, I would offer that they took a principled stand and did their duty in the best traditions of state legislators, knowing full well the potential short-term political consequences of their action. They were willing to risk their offices, and they ultimately paid the price.

17 years ago, seven members of the Hawaii State House of Representatives -- 6 Democrats, 1 Republican -- lost their seats because they very publicly opposed a bill that would have explicitly banned same-sex marriage through a state constitutional amendment.

In three weeks, the Hawaii State Legislature will convene in special session to legalize same-sex marriage. And how are they able to do that, given the aforementioned constitutional amendment?

Because 17 years ago, those seven former state representatives were able to fashion a compromise to the language of that constitutional amendment -- subsequently passed by Hawaii voters in 1998 -- which earned them the undying enmity of the radical Christian right, by which it states simply that "[t]he legislature shall have the power to reserve marriage to opposite sex couples."

Note that the language does not explicitly ban same-sex marriage; rather, it regards that particular decision as the sole province of the state legislature. Hawaii legislators did just that in 1999 in accordance with the amendment, and they'll be meeting in special session to repeal that statute.

Now, you may have picked off two Colorado state senators, but the very moderate common-sense firearms law they crafted still stands. And if I had to guess, that law will remain in effect. Because if you want the reality-free parallel universe of the NRA, you need only go to Iowa, where a number of nonsensical fools masquerading as county sheriffs -- citing their need to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, of all things!! --  are now authorizing the issuance of firearms permits to the visually mpaired and legally blind.

All these state legislators were willing to risk their jobs on principle because they recognized what you and your friends in the radical right clearly refuse to see, which is that societies will evolve meet the demands and circumstances of the times in which people are living -- and as will be shown in Hawaii three weeks hence, nothing is forever absolute.

In that regard, I can only wish you lotsa luck in attempting to defend over the next 20 years what can best be described as a late 18th century American anachronism, especially when radicals like the aforementioned Iowa sheriffs are clearly pushing the envelope, and the body count across the country continues to pile up. Chances are, you'll need every bit of it -- and then some.