DENVER (AP) — Republican Tom Tancredo wants to put a gun question on 2010 ballots to send a message to federal officials.

The former congressman and presidential candidate says he wants to see a nonbinding measure saying that Coloradans oppose gun restrictions. Tancredo says the measure would send a message to Washington and Congress to oppose international arms treaties that gun-rights activists say could lead to domestic limits on firearms.

Tancredo filed the proposal last week with a state office that clears ballot language. Supporters of the ballot measure would then have to collect some 76,000 signatures from valid voters to put the question on ballots.

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