Gun Control

Nucla ordinance requiring gun ownership could be challenged by Brady Center

Earlier this month, the town of Nucla passed a rule requiring heads of households to own guns. Nucla isn't the first community to issue such an edict: It's following the lead of Nelson, Georgia, whose recently approved ordinance has already prompted a lawsuit from the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Vi ... More >>

Colorado gun-control laws: Columbine dad criticizes sheriffs' lawsuit

Earlier this week, we talked with the Independence Institute's Dave Kopel about a lawsuit against Colorado's new gun-control laws supported by 55 sheriffs throughout the state; see the suit and more below. Today brings a rebuttal from Colorado Ceasefire's Tom Mauser, who became a gun-control advoca ... More >>

NRA takes aim at Colorado's 2014 election

It should be all hearts and flowers when Governor John Hickenlooper signs the civil unions bill at History Colorado this afternoon. But we're betting that this historic moment will also have a history-making amount of security, given the vehement response to Hickenlooper's signing of three gun measu ... More >>

Gun laws unenforceable, but El Paso sheriff says he'll still try to enforce them

During recent months, numerous sheriffs, including Larimer County's Justin Smith and Weld County's John Cooke, have ripped proposed gun-control measures before the Colorado legislature. El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa has been critical of such efforts, too. But his office is upset at local medi ... More >>

Video: Rachel Maddow show reports about newspaper's threat against gun-control backer

As we've reported, the debate over Colorado gun-control legislation has gotten ugly, with the most prominent example being executive Franklin Sain's arrest for racist and sexist e-mails sent to Representative Rhonda Fields, whose son was a murder victim. The negative PR garnered by Sain hasn't stop ... More >>

Gun control: Senator Morgan Carroll on disruption at Aurora town hall

The debate over gun control continues to get ugly. The same week Franklin Sain was arrested for sending Representative Rhonda Fields allegedly harassing, racist e-mails vocal, pro-gun audience members at an Aurora Town Hall meeting antagonized Senator Morgan Carroll, who felt the need for a securit ... More >>

Weld County commissioners really, really like the Second Amendment

Last week, we noted that Weld County Sheriff John Cooke was among several Colorado sheriffs raising constitutional concerns about potential gun-control measures. Now, the Weld Count Commissioners have pulled a similar trigger, passing a resolution -- read it below -- expressing their support for the ... More >>

Gun legislation: Claire Levy's bill would enact real-time data transfer of mental-health records

As the debate around gun policy and mental health heats up in Colorado and across the country, Representative Claire Levy, a Boulder Democrat, is pushing forward with a bill that she says would help keep weapons out of the hands of the wrong people. The legislation would establish real-time data tra ... More >>

Guns in Colorado public schools? GOP politicians want concealed handguns in class

Since the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting, lawmakers across the country have been debating what policy solutions could help reduce the risk of a devastating massacre in the future. In Colorado, some Democratic legislators have proposed tighter restrictions on access to guns. But a few h ... More >>

Rifle giveway: Rocky Mountain Gun Owners' Dudley Brown wants to arm you for a legal fight

As lawmakers head to the State Capitol for opening day of the Colorado Legislature, critics are already taking aim at new gun-control proposals. Some will be rallying outside the building for a 1 p.m. Guns for Everyone event. Others are arming themselves -- literally -- for the legislative battles a ... More >>

Gun policy: Rep. Ed Perlmutter appointed vice chair on national violence prevention task force

In the contentious debates on gun policy that are likely to remain at the forefront of national politics in the coming months, Colorado is an important player given its history of tragic mass shootings. And on one national task force dedicated to reducing gun violence, U.S. Representative Ed Perlmut ... More >>

Gun policy: On day one, Diana DeGette introduces high-capacity magazine ban

In the final weeks of 2012, Congresswoman Diana DeGette, who represents Denver, pushed for an immediate vote on a measure to ban high-capacity assault magazines. The bill, she said, would be a sign of concrete action after twenty children were slaughtered in Connecticut. But the chance for a vote ne ... More >>

Straightforward Shooting sees huge surge of interest in gun classes after Connecticut tragedy

Since the horrific mass shooting in Connecticut that claimed the lives of twenty children, there has been a renewed gun-control debate in Colorado -- along with a record-breaking number of residents looking to buy guns. Now a Littleton business that offers gun classes says it's seeing unprecedented ... More >>

Stephen Barton, Aurora victim and gun control advocate, grew up ten minutes from Newtown

Last Friday, Stephen Barton, a survivor of the Aurora theater shooting and now a vocal advocate for stronger gun policies, was back in Colorado, doing outreach work. While in Denver, he heard the news about the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. It was hard to compreh ... More >>

Reader: If you need a military assault weapon, you really need a penile implant

Representative Ed Perlmutter wants to introduce gun-control legislation on the first day of the new Congress, and is calling for a reinstatement of the assault weapons ban. Representative Diana DeGette wants to pull the trigger on gun control even earlier -- this week, if possible. She's joined with ... More >>

Gun control: Ed Perlmutter will introduce assault weapons ban on day one of Congress

In the days following the movie theater massacre in July, Representative Ed Perlmutter, whose district then included Aurora, was one of the few local politicians who called for a gun policy change: the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban. He's been working on that legislation for months, but gi ... More >>

Gun ban in college buildings?: Boulder rep plans legislation despite court ruling

It just doesn't make sense for lawmakers to allow guns on college campuses, where the risks of suicide or shootings tied to mental health illness can be high. At least that's an argument of Boulder Representative Claire Levy, who is crafting legislation that would add campus buildings to the list of ... More >>

Aurora's Steve Hogan: Why didn't he join anti-illegal gun mayors group after theater shooting?

Steve Hogan, mayor of Aurora, the city where Century 16 shooting suspect James Holmes allegedly killed twelve people and injured dozens more, is not joining a nationwide coalition of mayors that supports stricter gun laws. In response, the group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, argues that Hogan should ... More >>

CU staffer with gun permit accidentally injures two: First shooting of its kind on state campus?

After winning a long battle to allow those with concealed-carry permits to bring guns onto campuses in Colorado, a gun-rights organization is now responding to what appears to be the first-ever accidental discharge on a local campus from someone with the proper permit. The staffer who fired a shot a ... More >>

Videos: Obama cites Aurora theater shooting in second debate with Romney

Earlier this month, families of Aurora theater shooting victims urged Jim Lehrer, moderator of the presidential debate in Denver, to raise the issue of gun policy in quizzing President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Lehrer didn't do so -- but last night, in the season' ... More >>

Aurora theater shooting: Victims' families ask Jim Lehrer to raise gun policy at debate

In their first group message focused on gun policy, family members of those who died in the Aurora theater shooting have come together to urge presidential debate moderator Jim Lehrer to press Barack Obama and Mitt Romney on the topic of firearms violence when the candidates face off in Denver tomor ... More >>

Video: Stephen Barton, Aurora theater shooting victim, stars in gun-control ad

Stephen Barton, 22, never thought his future would include gun-policy work. A recent graduate of Syracuse University, Barton was planning on moving to Russia to teach English on a Fulbright Scholarship this September. That all changed when he was shot in the face on July 20 in the Aurora theater mas ... More >>

Gun-free CU-Boulder dorms are target areas for criminals, student group says

While some professors are not happy with a policy change that allows students with concealed-carry permits at CU-Boulder to bring guns into their classes, one gun-rights organization has an opposite concern. The most unsafe place on campus, according to Students for Concealed Carry, is the one place ... More >>

CU profs can't cancel classes if student is legally carrying a gun, administrator says

Earlier this week, we told you about CU-Boulder's new regs concerning concealed-carry permits -- changes necessitated by a Colorado Supreme Court ruling allowing them on campus two years after the university added Nerf guns to its banned weapons list. Shortly thereafter, one professor said he'd canc ... More >>

Gun control activists: 1000s of mental health records going unreported to FBI

Since James Holmes killed twelve people in Aurora, catalyzing heated gun control debates across the country, many have focused their attention on the suspect's past psychiatric care. As officials debate what can be done to keep guns out of the hands of those with a history of mental illness, a new r ... More >>

Michael Hancock: Aurora shootings shouldn't be used to push gun control

Since James Holmes purchased an AR-15 assault rifle and shot twelve people dead in an Aurora movie theater, we've asked different local officials if they think stricter gun control laws could help prevent this kind of tragedy in the future. Recently, Denver mayor Michael Hancock told us that he woul ... More >>

Denver police chief Robert White pushes for progress on gun control

Speaking one week after a former Denver resident shot six people dead in Wisconsin, and less than a month after James Holmes killed twelve and injured dozens more in Aurora, Denver police chief Robert White told Westword it's time to make progress on gun control. We spoke with White over the weekend ... More >>

Gun control ad in Denver pressures Obama and Romney to take a stand

The same day Barack Obama made several campaign stops in Colorado, a national gun control group launched an advertisement in Denver calling on both the president and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney to put forth a plan to curb gun violence across the country. The spot, which references t ... More >>

Aurora theater shooting: Dick Lamm not optimistic about reforms to gun policy

Since James Holmes fired shots into an Aurora movie theater -- after purchasing four guns in two months and 6,000 rounds of ammunition off the Internet -- heated gun control debates have emerged nationally and locally, with elected officials questioning whether stricter laws could have stopped thi ... More >>

Aurora theater shooting: Colorado members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns respond to tragedy

The heated gun control debates that have emerged in response to the Aurora theater shooting that left twelve dead have reached elected officials at all different levels of government -- whether they want to talk about it or not. Since Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, arguably the most prominent Colorad ... More >>

Aurora theater shooting: Latino officials backing Obama respond to gun control debate

The thorny political territory of gun control can be especially challenging for President Barack Obama's cheerleaders in Colorado, where debates about access to guns have great local significance after James Holmes shot seventy people in an Aurora movie theater. Since the attack, Obama has called fo ... More >>

Aurora theater shooting: Ed Perlmutter and the challenge of talking about gun control

When asked about gun laws on Sunday -- two days after James Holmes fired shots into an Aurora movie theater in one of the largest mass shootings in American history -- Representative Ed Perlmutter backed reinstatement of the assaults weapon ban. The comments, on live national TV, made him one of the ... More >>

Aurora theater shooting: Gun sales surge predictable -- but will it last?

Colorado dealers turned in 40 percent more background check requests for gun purchasers in the four days after the Aurora theater shootings than they did the previous weekend, a spike in gun sales similar to previous runs after other mass killings, including the 1999 Columbine High School attack, ac ... More >>

Aurora theater shooting: Michael Hancock declines to speak out on gun control

Days after accused gunman James Holmes fired shots at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, there have been heated discussions about gun control, along with debates on whether it is an appropriate time to tackle the subject. We gave Denver Mayor Michael Hancock an opportunity to wei ... More >>

Aurora shooting: Tom Mauser, Columbine father, on gun control, political silence

It's not about politics, it's about the tens of thousands of people who die every year in America due to gun violence -- including the twelve victims of the Aurora theater shootings. This is how Tom Mauser, father of a Columbine victim and now activist for gun control, responds to politicians and ... More >>

James Holmes's tactical gear provider accused of having "blood on its hands"

After some of the equipment belonging to Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes was traced back to a Chesterfield, Missouri company called Tactical Gear, reps spoke out about the ties online. Since then, as noted by our eagle-eyed sister blog at St. Louis' Riverfront Times, Tactical Gear emplo ... More >>

Aurora theater shooting prompts volleys from pro-gun, anti-gun forces

Whenever there's a shocking example of firearm mayhem like the shootings at the Aurora Century 16 theater, it doesn't take long for those on either side of the pistol-availability argument to start trying to make ideological points. Prime examples: Texas Representative Louie Gohmert, who wondered wh ... More >>

Reader: Josephine Echols' tragic murder reflects poorly on gun laws

The man who allegedly killed Josephine Echols outside her pastor-son's church this past Sunday was himself gunned down by an off-duty Denver Police officer, likely preventing further bloodshed. As such, the story that offers something to gun-rights activists and those who see these weapons as causin ... More >>

Dan Baum's book in the making, Guns Gone Wild, already has gun guys up in arms

Boulder author Dan Baum is a gun owner, and his most recent work, a companion piece to his upcoming book Guns Gone Wild that was released as a Kindle Single, makes an argument that most gun owners would seemingly support: that the AR-15 rifle is fun, a beacon of hope in a sinking gun market that doe ... More >>

Tom Mauser and the Fix Gun Checks Tour: Disarming lunatics isn't such a crazy idea

Tom Mauser ​Grief alters people. It can devastate and give a new sense of purpose. The murder of his son Daniel in the Columbine shootings has set Tom Mauser on a crusade against gun violence that, over twelve years, has yielded small victories and gradual change -- and plenty of blowback from ... More >>

CU gun fight shouldn't cost much-- but losing could mean more than a flesh wound for regents

​The top spokesman for the University of Colorado governing board says he wishes he "had a gun so I could blow off a few rounds." That's how many media calls Ken McConnellogue, spokesman for university system Board of Regents, has received as CU aims to keep a gun ban that a state court effec ... More >>

CSU gun ban: Another school weapons prohibition bites the dust

Is Cam the Ram about to become Cambo?​Colorado State University System officials voted unanimously Wednesday to rescind the school's hotly contested campus gun ban in response to a court ruling last month that wiped out a similar prohibition at CU-Boulder. The CSU ban, which was passed earlie ... More >>

Guns on campus: CSU faces lawsuit in wake of court tossing CU's concealed-carry ban

​As promised, the Rocky Mountain Gun Owner's Club has filed suit against Colorado State University for its board's recent ban of concealed weapons on campus. With the suit filed on the same day as a Colorado Court of Appeals decision to throw out CU-Boulder's similar ban, it might have more am ... More >>

Betsy Markey targeted by Gun Owners of America -- because of her health-care vote?

"Who isn't mad at me these days?"​In the immediate aftermath of yesterday's health-care vote in the U.S. House, Republican Party types have deemed a number of representatives nationwide as being ultra-vulnerable, with Betsy Markey's name coming up as often as anyone's. One reason: Markey voted ... More >>

Bull's Eyeful

The sordid legal saga of Katica Crippen, Second Amendment pinup girl.

Living in Exile

Federal prisons are filling up with people whose only crime is the possession of a gun.

Let Freedom -- and Gunshots -- Ring

In the wake of last week's terrorist attack, local big-gun lovers were deadly serious about staging their Fun Shoot.

Letters to the editor

From the week of June 15.

Fire Away

Ask John Bray if Denver's gun laws are too strict.

The Ten Commandments