June is Gun Safety Awareness month and we are honoring this event locally here in Pitkin County. Colorado’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention recently launched “Let’s Talk Guns Colorado”, a campaign to reduce firearm injury and deaths in the state. 2024 marks the 25th anniversary of the Columbine shooting in Colorado, and today we face continued incidents of gun violence which has become a complex public health issue. What steps can we all take locally, both gun-owners and non-owners as a collective responsibility, to address this?
Safe storage is key. Colorado law requires gun owners to store firearms in locking devices out of the reach of children or at-risk persons (Statute C.R.S. 18-12-114, passed in 2021). Lock boxes and gun safes are the most secure places to store a gun at home. Call your local gun shop for options, and these can also be bought online. A trigger lock or cable lock is a simple and affordable mechanism for locking a gun. All new guns in Colorado are sold with one, but if you have a gun without one, you can pick one up for free at the Pitkin County Sheriff’s office, or at Basalt Firearms, located in old town Basalt. An estimated 54% of gun owners in the US have at least one unlocked or unsecured gun in the house, and one-third of these households have children. In 2020, firearms surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of death for American children. Safe Storage means storing firearms locked, unloaded, and separate from ammunition. Children are naturally curious and will try to play with unlocked firearms at home.
Another option is to safely store your gun outside your home to protect it from a child or at-risk adult. Sites exist across the state and can be found by googling Colorado Gun Storage Map. In addition, Colorado law states that an individual who owns a firearm must report the loss or theft of that firearm to a law enforcement agency within 5 days after discovering that the firearm is missing, in order to be immune from criminal prosecution. Practicing responsible gun ownership, to ensure a gun stays only in the hands of the owner, saves lives.
Change the culture of conversations. Take the courageous step to talk about gun safety. This campaign challenges all of us, gun owners or not, to collectively have important conversations with friends, family and neighbors about firearm safety. If you are a parent, although it may feel difficult or awkward, respectfully ask about firearms before a playdate. As we are all able to have more simple conversations about gun safety, we raise awareness, we make each other accountable, and we make change. Professionals can also take a role - doctors and nurses, mental health providers, and educators can all ask screening questions and counsel patients and family members regarding gun storage and safety at home. Each conversation will be a step toward saving a life.
Equally importantly, we can help prevent suicide by firearms. Check-in with friends and family and ask how they are feeling. Learn how to identify people who are at risk of crisis and potentially suicidal, and how to have conversations – The Aspen Hope Center locally offers an important community class called “We Can Talk,” to educate us on techniques. Reach out and take this class to help save the life of a family member or friend. Suicides make up 76% of firearm deaths in Colorado, and half of all suicides in our state are by firearm. In 2019, there were 647 firearm suicide deaths in CO, including 43 children and teens.
Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO). Last year Gov. Polis expanded this law, also commonly known as the “Red Flag” law. An ERPO is a civil court order issued by a judge that temporarily prohibits a person in crisis from possessing or purchasing firearms. ERPOs allow certain individuals (including family and household members, health-care professionals, mental health professionals, educators) to file an order to remove a firearm from a person at risk. This order takes effect within 24 hours and initially lasts 2 weeks, with an option to file a longer-term regular order that can last 6-12 months. I visited the County Clerk in our Pitkin County Courthouse on Main Street, and they can provide the paperwork to you and assist in filling it out. ERPOs can be a lifesaving step for a loved friend or family member. Spread the word.
In Colorado, over 1,000 people died of firearm related injuries in 2021, doubling from the number of deaths in 2010. We are not immune from this complex public health issue locally - the active shooter scare last February in the Aspen Middle School brought this larger threat to a potential reality in our small community. However, as incidents of gun violence have grown, so too has the movement to address it. Colorado is proudly a leader in gun safety law, ranking 11th in gun law strength in the country. Since 2021, numbers have started to plateau and slowly decline statewide; we are beginning to make a measurable difference. Let’s all take the responsibility – gun owners and non-gun owners together – to improve our safety at home here in the Roaring Fork Valley.
Watch locally for messaging on social channels from Pitkin County Public Health Department or visit letstalkgunscolorado.com to find out more.
Additional resources:
coloradoceasefire.org/
pausetoprotect.org/
aap.org/en/patient-care/gun-safety-and-injury-prevention/
www.aspenhopecenter.org/programs#community-education