{"id":98838,"date":"2023-12-26T10:51:11","date_gmt":"2023-12-26T16:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=98838"},"modified":"2023-12-26T10:51:11","modified_gmt":"2023-12-26T16:51:11","slug":"98838","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=98838","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Gun deaths rise along with gun control grade<\/a><\/p>\n

Gun control advocates should have reason to celebrate. The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence upgraded Colorado\u2019s grade on the \u201cannual gun law scorecard\u201d from a C+ in 2021, to a B in 2022 and an A- this year.<\/p>\n

As reported in Gazette sister publication Colorado Politics, Colorado earned its A- for imposing waiting periods, banning \u201cghost\u201d guns, enacting legislation on victims\u2019 legal access, increasing the minimum age to purchase firearms and investing $1 million in community violence intervention.<\/p>\n

The grade would deserve accolades \u2014 if it correlated with a decrease in gun violence. It does not.<\/strong> The year Colorado moved from a C to a B was the year Colorado\u2019s rate of gun deaths reached a 40-year high. It is also the year Colorado set a record for the most people injured in mass shootings in a single year.<\/p>\n

Since the Columbine High School massacre of 1999, Colorado has understandably pursued more gun regulation. The state enacted background checks at gun shows in 2000. It later passed a 15-round limit on bullet magazines. In 2013, Colorado required universal background checks.<\/p>\n

From there, the state passed a red flag law in 2019. The next year, it enacted mandatory reporting for lost or stolen firearms and a safe firearm storage law.<\/p>\n

Despite a 23-year gun-control effort, gun sales and gun crimes have risen.<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s gun sales in 2022 were 26% higher than in 2019. Early indicators suggest this year\u2019s Colorado holiday gun sales will set a record.<\/p>\n

An A- for gun control \u2014 after a significant rise in gun crimes \u2014 amounts to accolades for policies that don\u2019t work.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It frustrates Colorado\u2019s political leaders. Gov. Jared Polis and state\u2019s Attorney Gen. Phil Weiser want to spend $600,000 to hire outside lawyers. They would lend the attorneys to the federal government to prosecute gun crimes.<\/p>\n

If federal enforcement saves lives, this proposal could pay off. Properly written and enforced, gun regulations should allow guns in the hands of stable, sober, law-abiding adults.<\/p>\n

It should keep guns from substance abusers, criminals, domestic abusers, severe mental illness patients, and others given due process and deemed likely to misuse them.<\/p>\n

If Colorado subsidizes enforcement of federal gun laws, Polis and Weiser should take similar action regarding federal drug laws.<\/p>\n

Colorado has undermined federal drug laws and enforcement for years, even as fentanyl became the number 1 killer of young adults. We legalized recreational pot in 2012. More recently, our state decriminalized fentanyl, heroin, crack cocaine and other deadly street drugs.<\/p>\n

Likewise, Colorado has consistently undermined federal immigration laws. The combined chaos of immigration, rising crime, drug deaths, homelessness and needles in parks probably led to escalating gun ownership in Colorado and the rest of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many communities with sustained levels of crime that have not abated,\u201d said National Shooting Sports Foundation spokesperson Mark Oliva, as quoted in Gazette sister publication The National Examiner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose concerns, along with the punishing anti-gun measures by the Biden administration and threats of more gun control promised by the Biden-Harris reelection campaign, cannot be discounted as contributing factors (to rising gun sales).<\/p>\n

\u201cAmericans have demonstrated month after month and year after year, (that) Second Amendment rights matter, and they are investing their hard-earned dollars to exercise their right to lawfully possess firearms before the right can be further infringed (upon).\u201d<\/p>\n

Reducing gun violence means more and better mental health care. It means restoring harsh penalties for crimes. It means controlling the border. It means enforcing drug laws and offering help for addiction. It means more looking out for those who suffer.<\/p>\n

Sadly, it seems we don\u2019t save lives by simply churning out gun laws \u2014 even if handed a medal for doing so.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Gazette Editorial Board<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gun deaths rise along with gun control grade Gun control advocates should have reason to celebrate. The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence upgraded Colorado\u2019s grade on the \u201cannual gun law scorecard\u201d from a C+ in 2021, to a B in 2022 and an A- this year. As reported in Gazette sister publication Colorado … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,50,8,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial-o-the-day","category-goobermint","category-rkba","category-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98838"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98839,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98838\/revisions\/98839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}