Red Flag Law talk flier
The League of Women Voters and Grand Valley Interfaith network will be co-sponsoring a free talk, “Understanding Colorado’s Red Flag Law,” on Monday, May 22, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 536 Ouray Ave. The featured speaker will be Tom Mauser of Colorado Ceasefire, whose son, Daniel Mauser, was murdered in the Columbine High School shooting on April 20, 1999.
Daniel Mauser, who was killed in the Columbine High School mass shooting in 1999. His father, Tom, will be speaking at this event.
Colorado Ceasefire is a Colorado grassroots gun violence prevention organization made up of parents, teachers, students, community members, gun violence survivors and more who have been working for nearly twenty years to prevent and reduce gun violence in Colorado through education, outreach and legislative advocacy.
Colorado’s Red Flag Law, allows for the issuance of Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), which are civil court orders issued by a judge that temporarily prohibit a person in crisis from possessing or purchasing firearms. ERPOs provide certain individuals with a formal legal process through which they can have an individual’s firearms temporarily removed and reduce any further access to firearms if the person poses a danger to themselves or others. Colorado’ Red Flag law went into effect on January 1, 2020. The prime sponsor of theLaw was State Senator Tom Sullivan, whose son, Alex, was among the twelve theater-goers massacred in the Aurora Theater mass shooting on July 20, 2021. Alex was at the theater celebrating his 27th birthday with friends.
April 20 1999.
Not 19
Fixed. Thank you.
It’s good to have these public conversations about gun violence.
Hopefully the discussions don’t lead to an increase in traumatizing armed assailant drills in D51 schools.
The National Association of School Psychologists publish best practices for armed assailant drills which D51 hasn’t historically adhere to.
https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-safety-and-crisis/systems-level-prevention/best-practice-considerations-for-armed-assailant-drills-in-schools
Mesa County’s most recent (2021) coroner’s report shows that 12 people were lost to murder and 52 people were lost to suicide in the same time period.
From Rocky Mountain MIRECC:
Important considerations when discussing death by suicide:
-Only 10% of people with suicidal thoughts/actions die by suicide
-But 85-90% of people who use a gun for suicide die
-~3x risk of suicide death in homes with firearms
The CDPHE Office of Suicide Prevention offers year round no-cost lethal means and CAMS training for clinicians, politicians, and clergy. https://cdphe.colorado.gov/suicide-prevention-training
There’s also tons of free online education for the general public.
The laws seem to help somewhat. When I was a store manager at Garts, it seemed like every few weeks someone would get arrested for trying to buy a gun with a pending domestic violence charge.