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Breckenridge mayor: As a victim of gun violence, I support Colorado firearms regulations

Breck mayor applauds state gun reform

I am writing in support of Representative Millie Hamner’s support of the gun reform legislation which was passed by the state legislature and signed by the governor this past spring.

As a victim of gun violence, I recoil at the thought of “200 shoppers in a store all carrying,” as one of your writers suggests as a solution to protecting a store from being robbed. Gun violence is chaotic and in my case, I was the point-blank target of a lone gunman and one of my closest friends was nearly killed because of the shooters poor aim. Imagine 200 gun carrying people in a store trying to deter a gunman.



This new law requires much more extensive background checks which will hold accountable the vast majority of gun transactions, including private transactions. Many of these private transactions are advertised in the Summit Daily News everyday in the classified section. 2012 Colorado Bureau of Investigation statistics regarding the effectiveness of background checks, show them to be very helpful in keeping guns out of the hands of people with criminal intent. For example, in 2012, existing law resulted in the denial of gun purchase for ; 420 people who had restraining orders, 38 people who had committed homicide, 133 people who had committed sexual assault, 1380 people who had committed some sort of assault, and 618 people who had committed burglary. The list goes on, including 3118 denials for people with a history of mental health adjudication, domestic violence , and assault on a police officer. These statistics are likely to improve with the new law which representative Hamner supported.

Is this a perfect law? Probably not, but ask yourself honestly, does this law prevent law abiding citizens from legitimate gun ownership, gun sales, and gun use? I don’t think so. What this gun reform does do, is reduce the number of guns bought and sold by persons with criminal intent.



John G. Warner

Mayor

Breckenridge


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