cuchulainn
Member
Blood in the streets blah blah blah
from the Durango Herald
http://durangoherald.com/asp-bin/ar...type=news&article_path=/news/news030517_1.htm
from the Durango Herald
http://durangoherald.com/asp-bin/ar...type=news&article_path=/news/news030517_1.htm
Gun law gives rise to jitters
May 17, 2003
By Steven K. Paulson
Associated Press Writer
DENVER – Nick Frangos plans to tack up a "no guns" sign next to a "no fighting" sign in his downtown bar.
Frangos, like many business owners across the state, is concerned about a new law that could put thousands more concealed weapons on the streets, in shopping malls, on college campuses and in venues like the Pepsi Center.
"I don’t like this new law at all. Some people get two or three drinks in them and they’re not rational. I’ll put up a sign, but I don’t know what good it will do," the Congress Lounge owner said.
Lawmakers passed two laws this year that paved the way for the biggest expansion of gun rights since the Columbine High School shootings four years ago.
Supporters said the laws were necessary because inconsistent local ordinances left gun owners confused about where they could legally carry concealed weapons.
One law, which takes effect today, requires sheriffs to issue five-year permits to people who pass a fingerprint-based criminal-background check and complete a handgun-training course.
La Plata County Sheriff Duke Schirard said the law is a reiteration of the policy he has followed for the last 8½ years. The only change is that applicants will have to pay more for a permit.
Each applicant will pay $49 for a criminal-history check, generating about $900,000 a year in Colorado. Of that, $385,000 would go to the FBI to pay for fingerprint checks, the rest for state expenses. Police agencies can charge up to $100 for processing.
"I think most of the people in La Plata County who have wanted permits already have them," Schirard said. "So I don’t anticipate seeing a great increase in the number of people who apply through my office."
The law bars guns in public schools and public buildings with security screening, such as courthouses. Ineligible residents include drug or alcohol addicts, those who have restraining orders against them and those convicted of perjury.
The second law, already in effect, removes local control over concealed-weapons permits by establishing a statewide policy that is more liberal than some jurisdictions have allowed.
Authorities in Colorado Springs, Fort Collins and most other big cities in the past have issued hundreds of concealed-gun permits. Officials in Denver and some other governments have rarely issued them, requiring applicants to prove there was a threat against them.
"We’re not really happy with it, without some locality restrictions, but we will be in full compliance with the state law," police Detective John White said.
Schirard, who supports the law, said the law was created because Denver was being too conservative about issuing permits, was not honoring permits obtained from other jurisdictions and was setting its own rules for carrying concealed weapons.
"They were the ones that really caused this law to be passed," said Schirard, adding that "I can’t think of a place anywhere in the state other than Denver where someone would need a weapon more than Denver for self-protection."
Schirard is within the top three in the state for issuing the most concealed-weapons permits per capita. None of the people he has issued a permit to has misused it, he said.
"I don’t care if I’m the first, second or third," Schirard said. "I don’t care if I’m 63rd. I’m not in a race with anybody."
The new laws have been sharply criticized by some mayors and others who believe the result will be more violence.
Colorado, Minnesota and New Mexico passed permissive gun laws this year, while Nebraska, Illinois and California rejected them, said Luis Tolley, spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Several other states, including Kansas and Wisconsin, did not even try because of threatened vetoes.
Gun-rights supporters are getting more states to pass liberal gun laws by agreeing to restrictions they rejected in the past, including limits on guns in public schools, Tolley said.
"Their proposals are more moderate, because anytime, anywhere laws were not being adopted," he said.
Statewide, roughly 15,000 concealed-handgun permits have been issued. About 21,500 new applications are expected over the next year.
Staff Writer Shane Benjamin contributed to this report.
And I love it every time some newspaper quotes the Brady Bunch, as if they are this impartial group that has no agenda whatsoever.
