The state of Colorado rolled anti-gun after the theater shooting in Aurora. Since that time, they’ve fully and completely embraced anti-gun legislation, adding more and more every year.
In fairness, they were far from alone in the wake of Bruen. That decision allowed for lower governments to declare certain places “sensitive” and prohibit guns in those locations. This spurred a plethora of anti-gun states to declare all kinds of places as “sensitive places.” In fact, a lot of places got pretty stupid about it.
Colorado was no different, with a number of locations originally slated to be deemed “sensitive” and thus gun-free, though the final bill was much more watered down.
Yet not everyone is thrilled with the measure as signed.
One quirk of Colorado’s law is that apparently, local governments can opt out of it. We talked last week about one community that’s at least considering it.
It seems that town is far from alone.
Douglas County Commissioners enacted the opt-out back in May, citing the long American tradition of the ability to protect oneself.
“I’m very critical of this new state law,” said Commissioner George Teal in a press release. “We are a nation that was built on the principle of the right to keep and bear arms.”
Fellow commissioner Abe Laydon called Douglas County a “constitutional county.”
“Douglas County’s opting out of the requirements of the onerous SB24-131 allows visitors to county facilities and properties the ability to protect themselves as they choose,” added Commissioner Lora Thomas.
The resolution, however, only affects county buildings and spaces. Municipalities within Douglas County will still be bound by the law unless they also opt out, which it appears at least one community plans on doing.
At its first meeting in June, the Castle Rock Town Council passed an “emergency ordinance” blocking the restrictions. Other municipalities known to have passed similar resolutions include Monument and Palmer Lake in El Paso County.
Opt-out grows
Weld County is currently in the process of opting out as well, said Weld County Commissioner Chairman Kevin Ross.
First reading was June 10, where it passed unanimously with some discussion on whether to include the word “property,” which would include the county jail. Currently the sheriff does not allow the public or any one other than certified officers to carry.
Weld County attorney Bruce Barker told the commissioners that in the end, the keeper of the jail is Sheriff Steve Reams.
“If he says yeah, bring your weapons in, OK, you can do it,” Barker said. “If he says no, you can’t bring weapons in.”
Third and final reading is scheduled for the commission’s July 8 meeting.
Now, this is far from the totality of Colorado. There are a lot of towns that aren’t going to bother with opting out, but frankly, I’m kind of glad to see that at least some are. More will likely consider it down the road, particularly as new blood comes onto the various city and county commissions.
I totally disagree with the idea of sensitive places, particularly as so many states seem to define them, but I do have to respect Colorado for allowing local communities to opt out of these laws.
We usually see anti-gunners go on about how local communities know their needs best when it comes to gun laws as an avenue of approach to attack preemption in various states. If one truly believes that, then one should also believe those communities should be able to have fewer gun control laws if they so desire. That’s basically what we have here.
Of course, the various anti-gun groups out there are attacking these communities for deciding to do so, which just shows you how full of it they really are about local choice. They don’t want local choice, they just want as many restrictions as humanly possible and they figure they can only get that if local governments can add more restrictions on top of what the state and federal governments have in place.
Meanwhile, communities in Colorado are hard at work nullifying these sensitive places through lawful means, and that’s driving anti-gunners nuts.
I mean, it’s worth it just for that, if we’re being honest.
