AURORA | Aurora City Council members are fired up about potential state gun laws but agreed not to take any formal positions on proposals until bills are formally introduced at the Colorado Legislature.
In doing so, they chose, during a Jan. 14 meeting, to stay in line with standard procedures for supporting or opposing any state legislation. City council policy states that when a bill is introduced by Colorado lawmakers, the city council’s Public and Intergovernmental Relations committee will decide whether to take
a position on the bill. Council members will hear the position at a study session meeting following the committee session and have the chance to change that position if they choose. The PIR Committee is made up of city staff and three council members — Chairwoman Debi Hunter Holen, Vice Chairman Bob Broom and Councilwoman Barb Cleland.
The city has limited ability to propose any new gun laws of its own. City attorneys say the regulation of firearms is a matter of statewide concern, according to state law. But the council as a whole does have some clout on bills heard at the state Capitol. They have publicly supported or opposed state proposals going through the state Legislature in the past.
The discussion about whether to take any position on gun control proposals was prompted by Roberto Venegas, intergovernmental relations coordinator for the city.
In the wake of the July 20 theater massacre, plans for how to deal with advocating or opposing any gun control legislation are key, Venegas said.
“We get asked quite a bit as to the city’s position when it comes to state and federal legislation,” he said. Venegas said it’s important to have a protocol for how to handle city positions on state bills regarding guns in the future.
The conversation, which lasted about an hour, drew heated comments from council members. Councilwoman Sally Mounier and other council members wondered aloud what the point of the conversation was, since no gun-related bills have been introduced yet at the state level.
“I don’t understand why we’re here if there’s no legislation for us to be looking at,” Mounier said.
Councilwoman Molly Markert echoed her comments. “I find it odd we’re here at this point in time without legislation,” she said.
Although gun legislation hadn’t been formally filed at the state Capitol as of Jan. 14, several state lawmakers — including some from Aurora — have said they are considering sponsoring gun control measures. According to city documents, state lawmakers are considering requiring that private sellers conduct background checks of potential gun buyers; considering whether the costs of performing the checks should be funded through a fee on the person purchasing the gun; and considering laws that would impose restrictions on gun ownership for the mentally ill.
Gun control has notably been a highly partisan political issue at the state and federal level. Although Aurora City Council member positions are non partisan, the majority of council members are registered Republicans — many of whom said more gun laws would likely not stop gun violence. Councilman Bob LeGare, a Republican, said he is doubtful that any more laws would have made a difference in the Aurora shootings, or in last month’s Newtown, Conn. massacre.
“I’m still waiting to hear that piece of legislation that would have stopped (them),” he said, adding that limiting access to guns would effect a whole sport-shooting industry. “There are hundreds of millions of rounds fired off every year in that sporting industry,” he said. “It’s not just clips for killing.”
Councilwoman Renie Peterson took issue with the Legislature possibly limiting gun ownership for people who are mentally ill. “Who’s to say who’s mentally ill? Hoarders are mentally ill. If I’m a hoarder, I can’t have a gun?” she said.
Hunter Holen and Markert said they plan to support any legislation that aims to prohibit the sale of high-capacity magazines. Markert said she consistently hears rounds being fired off at Cherry Creek State Park’s firing range.
“There’s no sport in that,” she said. “It’s just shooting. They can stay at shooting ranges, but they don’t need to be used in the city,” she said.
Councilwoman Marsha Berzins said it’s too early to talk about whether to take any positions on gun-related bills because many people haven’t yet healed from the tragedy on July 20.
“Because we are under such a microscope, I think it’s too soon to do something … Personally, I need more time,” she said.
The majority of council members agreed to wait on taking any formal positions on gun-related bills until they have been introduced and heard in the PIR
committee.
“I understand how sensitive this is on both sides, and that makes it terribly difficult, but we have a process for a reason and most times the process works,” Mayor Steve Hogan said.
All gun-related ordinances the city has on the books currently mirror state laws, said George Zierk, Aurora’s deputy city attorney. The regulation of firearms is a matter of statewide concern, he said. “We can pass comparable legislation but we can’t go beyond that,” he said. However, there has been one instance in the city’s history where city officials passed an ordinance regulating the possession of firearms by juveniles that was not yet a state law. That was in 1993, the year of the so-called “summer of violence” in Denver where 74 people were murdered in that city.
Zierk said Aurora passed a law that prohibited the possession of firearms by a juvenile except under certain circumstances, including if juveniles were traveling to or from a shooting range. Soon after Aurora passed its law, the state Legislature passed a law that mirrored Aurora’s. The city then repealed its law, and allowed the state to enforce its own juvenile possession of firearms law, Zierk said.
Reach reporter Sara Castellanos at 720-449-9036 or sara@aurorasentinel.com.