More case for gun reform, and fast: Firearms cause massive blaze in Basalt

The Lake Christine fire in Basalt last night, with Whole Foods Market in the foreground. Photo credit: Colorado State Patrol/CBS.

As if firearm massacres occurring regularly throughout the U.S. isn’t enough of a red flag that we need enact gun reform and fast, investigators have found that the massive wildland fire currently raging in Basalt was caused by the illegal use of “tracer bullets” at a firing range.

Tracer bullets have a small pyrotechnic charge  in the base that cause the bullets to leave a bright, burning track of smoke along their trajectory so that when fired, the path of the bullet is visible to the naked eye. The pyrotechnic charge is basically a firework.

Two people shooting tracer rounds at the Basalt SWA firing range caused the Lake Christine fire that is now wreaking havoc in Basalt. It is illegal to use tracer rounds during the current fire ban. The shooters were cited, but that does little to stop the damage their irresponsible use of firearms is causing.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife has closed the Basalt shooting range indefinitely.

Massive damage

As of an hour ago, the Lake Christine fire had burned over 2,000 acres, three homes have been destroyed, 500 people have had to evacuate their homes and the fire remains completely uncontained.

Tracer fire at night on Finnish-Soviet border in 1939. (Source: Book Suomi Sodassa, Valitut Palat Oy 1973)

The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun illegally shooting pyrotechnic bullets at a firing range during a fire ban is tens of millions of dollars and thousands of firefighters putting their lives on the line to fight the massive fires they cause.

No further proof is needed that gun ownership rights are misused in a multitude of irresponsible ways on a massive scale in this country. It’s long past time we  did something about it.

To fight efforts to roll back the widespread irresponsible use of firearms in this country and the horrific damage it causes is to be a fake patriot and say you don’t care about America at all.

  4 comments for “More case for gun reform, and fast: Firearms cause massive blaze in Basalt

  1. The people who die from tobacco use die because they have voluntarily and repeatedly partaken of a substance that is known to cause disease and death.

    Most of the people who die from gun violence don’t do it by choice.

  2. The attempt to politicize a disaster into a anti-gun rant is sad and pathetic. Every year tobacco kills millions more people than firearms and starts thousands more fires. You used to have a passion for reducing the harmful effects of tobacco, a passion that seems to have been set aside by your radicalization. Now your passion seems to be attention grabbing stunts.

    • Henri, tobacco is engineered for addiction, guns are purpose-designed to make it simple for the user to kill someone or something other than himself. No stabbing, no strangling, just pull a switch from afar and the job is done. Not a very palatable or desirable product, unless your goal is to kill.

      BTW, smoking in all workplaces was banned in Colorado in 2006.

  3. The reckless use of firearms by some put the rights of all others at risk, if they are still alive. I like to hunt and target practice as much as the next guy but the actions of a few combined with the psychotic attitude displayed by NRA people gives those who don’t necessarily like firearms a lot of ammunition (not bullets) to build a case for greater firearm restrictions or outright bans. It’s likely the guys who started the fire were using AR type weapons because tracer ammunition is made for the specific calibers of these guns. It sure wouldn’t hurt my feelings if military designed weapons were banned from being sold anymore. For that matter why do civilians need tracer ammo anyway ?

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