This week the focus is on how we can work to stop these changes from becoming law.
A quick history of these changes is in order. In 2003, Colorado amended concealed carry law to say that State law was the supreme law of the land. No individual jurisdiction could make more restrictive laws. This was challenged many times by cities and counties who wanted to make their own local laws. These challenges were all unsuccessful in the long run. The last major challenge occurred in 2018 when Boulder County banned ‘Assault Weapons’. Boulder county knew that this law would not stand up to the legal challenge, but they fought anyway. The case went before the Colorado Supreme Court and in 2021, the Supreme Court unsurprisingly ruled that the Colorado Preemption laws overruled Boulder’s new gun laws.
One week later, a man walked into a King Soopers in Boulder and started shooting. In the aftermath, a bill to change the Preemption clause in C.R.S. 18-12-201 was quickly brought in front of the state legislature. In 6 short weeks, the law was passed and signed by the Governor.
The pertinent question to ask would be, how did this happen so quickly? The reality is that Colorado is prime target in the nationwide gun control debate. This means that there is a lot of money being spent by national organizations to push gun control in Colorado. These law changes were just waiting for the right opportunity. The Boulder shooting was that opportunity.
The reality of our situation is that one of the only ways to fight the changes happening at the local level is to financially support the organizations that are fighting to hold back these changes. Many people do not want to spend the money to support these organizations and this ends up putting Colorado in a very bad position. Anti Gun organizations know that they have an easy fight in Colorado.
How can you help? The first answer is to get involved. There are organizations such as Rocky Mountain Gun Owners at the state level, and Firearms Policy Coalition at the national level that need both manpower and money to operate. We can also get involved by keeping track of city council meetings, agendas, and local news to be ready to fight when these changes are being proposed. Fighting in the trenches is where a lot of us can help.
EDGEWATER — The Edgewater City Council has significantly scaled back — at least for now — most of what it planned to consider in way of new gun rights restrictions being encouraged by an anti-gun advocacy group, after dozens of residents and others emailed and showed up at an April 19 work session to express their displeasure on possible ordinances targeting gun owners.
If you can’t find the time or money to get involved, unfortunately you won’t have any right to complain as the laws change around you. It’s an uphill battle but it’s a fight worth winning. Don’t lose heart, we can win. But we have to get in the fight.
A new push for restricting Concealed Carry has begun in several Colorado cities since the Colorado Legislature changed how Colorado law functions.
Denver, Boulder, Edgewater and even Canon City have all proposed banning concealed carry in certain locations within their jurisdictions. The latest city to put the issue before their city council is Edgewater, a small city within the Denver Metro area. These restrictions proposed in Edgewater include prohibiting Concealed Carry in Bars, Liquor Stores, Medical facilities and more:
Bars and Liquor Stores
Day Care Centers and Preschools
Medical Facilities
Mental Health Care Facilities
Banks
Event Venues, Theaters
City Parks
City owned buildings
These types of restrictions will be coming hard and fast across the metro area cities and counties in 2022. But this is not just a metro area issue. Canon City, in Southern Colorado, has also been debating banning concealed carry in City buildings.
Edgar and I at Guns For Everyone are doing our best to keep people informed of these proposed changes but the truth is that it will be impossible for anyone to fully keep up on all the possible changes and their impact.
The state legislature has demonstrated that they do not care about you, the law abiding citizen. There are 336 individual jurisdictions in Colorado and each one of them now has the power to make up their own laws about where you can carry a gun within their jurisdiction.
It’s easy to get discouraged but I encourage you to instead focus on getting involved. In the next newsletter, we will discuss how to do that. If we don’t actively defend our rights, they will be taken from us. It’s time to step up.
When is lethal force justified in an arson attack?
The following is a news story out of Florida (of course) where an unknown attacker threw two molotov cocktails at an occupied dwelling.
FORT PIERCE, Fla. (CNN) – A man was caught on camera throwing Molotov cocktails at a house, according to police.
It happened on Sunday in Fort Pierce, Florida.
In the video, a man is seen running up to the window of a house and throwing something inside. Flames were then seen starting to shoot out of the window.
Police reported the object was a Molotov cocktail.
In Colorado, lethal force is justified to defend a person who is in imminent threat of death, serious bodily injury, kidnapping or sexual assault.
(2)Deadly physical force may be used only if a person reasonably believes a lesser degree of force is inadequate and:
(a)The actor has reasonable ground to believe, and does believe, that he or another person is in imminent danger of being killed or of receiving great bodily injury; or
…
(c)The other person is committing or reasonably appears about to commit kidnapping as defined in section 18-3-301 or 18-3-302, robbery as defined in section 18-4-301 or 18-4-302, sexual assault as set forth in section 18-3-402, or in section 18-3-403 as it existed prior to July 1, 2000, or assault as defined in sections 18-3-202 and 18-3-203.
Deadly force is also justified to prevent first degree arson.
A person in possession or control of any building, realty, or other premises, or a person who is licensed or privileged to be thereon, is justified in using reasonable and appropriate physical force upon another person when and to the extent that it is reasonably necessary to prevent or terminate what he reasonably believes to be the commission or attempted commission of an unlawful trespass by the other person in or upon the building, realty, or premises. However, he may use deadly force only in defense of himself or another as described in section 18-1-704, or when he reasonably believes it necessary to prevent what he reasonably believes to be an attempt by the trespasser to commit first degree arson.
Obviously this is not a usual case, but it’s important to test your knowledge and understanding of the laws of your state if you consider yourself a protector.
