AURORA | A month after two armed men caused a minor stir at a city council meeting, city officials are considering putting a halt to people open-carrying guns into the Aurora Municipal Center.
City law already allows city council to bar people from openly carrying a gun into the city building, Deputy City Attorney George Zierk said Tuesday during a meeting of city council’s Public Safety committee. But Zierk said previous city councils have opted not to enforce the policy and never mounted the required signs at the entrances telling people they weren’t allowed to open-carry at city hall.
All the city needs to do to bar people from carrying is post the signs, Zierk said.
The committee voted 2 to 1 — council member Bob Roth voted no — in favor of asking the full council to consider posting signs telling people not to open-carry firearms into the AMC.
People who have concealed-carry permits would still be allowed to carry a firearm into the building if the gun is concealed.
Councilman Bob LeGare, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said that while he supports the Second Amendment and definitely opposes any restriction on people who have a concealed-carry permit, people who open carry into city hall area a “nuisance” who force the police to dedicate resources to them.
At the council meeting last month, the two men who carried pistols in the Aurora Municipal Center didn’t break the law, but Deputy Police Chief Terry Jones said an officer stayed near them the entire meeting as a precaution.
Jones said the two men seemed to carry their guns into the building “just to test us more than anything else.”
Steve Lohner, one of the two men who carried pistols into city council chambers that night, said he and his friend had planned to make a speech to council about open-carry issues in Aurora, but there wasn’t enough time on the docket for them to speak.
Lohner said the officers he dealt with were “extremely professional” and friendly.
“It was all and all a very smooth process,” he said.
Lohner, who regularly carries a gun and videotapes his interactions with police, was arrested last year for open carrying a shotgun on East Iliff Avenue when he refused to give police his identification. Those charges were later dropped.
Lohner said he would be a little disappointed if the city barred people from open carrying a gun at city hall, but he understands that the law allows them to.
“That’s their prerogative,” he said.
Councilman Bob Roth said he is a “gun person” who has a concealed weapons permit and didn’t like the idea of banning open carry.
“I am reluctant to restrict people’s constitutional right to carry a firearm,” he said.
Voters in Castle Rock last year voted to lift that city’s ban on open-carrying guns in their city hall.
Officials from Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, a pro-gun group that has opposed similar measures in other cities, did not return requests for comment.
This freaking country is becoming gun obsessed!
I noticed this “obsession” after the Gov’t. started limiting gun rights. I believe this goes back to the ’60’s the Volkmer Act, then Clinton (Bill) and now to Obama. The people are scared their rights are being, or will be taken and they will be left defenseless. This sounds right to me! I believe it was President Reagan who spoke the quote of the biggest lie: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you”.
Ever sense I was a child, I believed in the private ownership of guns just in case another country invaded the US. As things like terrorism and anti-USA feelings continue, I still believe the average citizen, armed and trained would be a force to be reckoned with. I believe the government should work to train the common man and communicate his importance to the country. Much more than “guns” should be taught, survival, medicine, construction, communications and a ton of other subjects could be included. What a task for Homeland Security this project would be!
We actually agree on most things! I have no problem with private gun ownership for protection of their home, family, and for the sport of game hunting. I do however believe there should be four things in conjunction with that: 1). Universal background check completed every 3 years; 2). Licensing for every private gun owner renewed every 3 years; 3). Training that goes along with # 1 & # 2; and 4). return to the ban of private ownership of the large capacity magazines, armor piercing ammo, and automatic weapons or so called assault rifles. Will this solve all gun violence? Absolutely not! Will it perhaps decrease deaths by gun violence (accidental or intentional) ? I believe these four limitations would result in a decrease of at least 10 to 15 % of violent gun deaths. That is worth the effort!
The 2nd amendment didn’t give them that authority, if its public property, shall not infringe applies…
I just googled that Steve Lohner oof what nut job.
20 years ago we gun enthusiasts had the common sense not to even think about open carry in city buildings. All it does is create confusion, waste police resources, and tax payer dollars for the inevitable lawsuits. The open carry extremists are working hard to turn people against guns (showing up in mass at Starbucks for example) which in the long run will back-fire big time.
The city council should support open carry, except for certain venues like the municipal building and the court house.
You can view the City Council meetings below for Feb 2 (where a “minor stir” was allegedly created and March 16). I can see no disruption and the meetings seem to be as mind numbing as always. Looks like the panty wetters only excuse is that they don’t like the people they serve to exercise their rights.
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Feb 2
March 16