Broomfield considers stricter gun laws after recent shootings

As conversations about gun control measures continue in the wake of recent mass shootings, Broomfield is the latest Colorado city to consider stricter gun laws.  

The city council advanced multiple measures on Tuesday related to guns, including a 10-day waiting period and raising the minimum age to buy a firearm. 

It comes as new research reveals Americans are dying from gun violence at the highest levels in decades. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 47,000 people died from a firearm last year, the most in 40 years. America's gun-related homicide and suicide rates are also hitting levels not seen since the early 1990s, jumping 20% from 2019 to 2021. 

The recent shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs has also reinvigorated calls for stricter gun laws, and leaders at every level of government say they're trying to address the issue. 

This week, President Joe Biden renewed calls for an assault weapons ban, and Sen. Michael Bennet's office confirms signing on to the Assault Weapons Ban originally introduced in 2021 by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Congressman David N. Cicilline. 

"Our kids have grown up living with a reasonable fear that they could be shot in their classrooms, their places of worship, or in a grocery store. Colorado has seen too many tragedies committed with assault weapons, and the time is now to ban these weapons of war," Bennet said in a statement sent to CBS News Colorado.  

In Colorado, another discussion surrounds the state's red flag law, which allows a judge to remove someone's firearms if they're deemed a risk to themselves or others. Currently, only law enforcement, a roommate, or family can make that request, but outside Club Q on Tuesday, Governor Jared Polis suggested that could change.  

"It's been discussed potentially expanding those who can seek a red flag order to district attorneys and prosecutors as an example, as well as looking at how we can make sure that they're used in a safe way across the state of Colorado," Polis said.  

This week, Broomfield is also the latest city to discuss gun control, giving several potential measures the first reading at a city council meeting Tuesday night.  

Those measures include:  

• Ban the sale and possession of rapid-fire trigger activators  
• Establish a minimum age of 21 years old to purchase a rifle or shotgun  
• Regulate the possession of unserialized firearms or "ghost guns" 
• Require all firearm dealers to post signs and provide an educational notification when a sale/transfer occurs 
• Require a ten-day waiting period and proof of training/experience prior to the sale of firearms 
• Prohibit the open carry of firearms in public places located in Broomfield  
• Prohibit the concealed carry of firearms in Broomfield-owned and operated places   

Taylor Rhodes, with Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, anticipates challenging the measures in court, as he's done in other Colorado cities like Boulder and Louisville.  

"If they want to, we'll give them a fight," Rhodes said.  "The most atrocious of this is the 10-day waiting period and a requirement that you essentially shoot like an Olympian."  

During Tuesday night's meeting, council members and residents had differing views of the proposed measures.  

"Citizens will just take their business elsewhere and then return to Broomfield County with their newly possessed firearms," one Broomfield resident said.  

"We need to change the gun culture in America. The second amendment does not trump the ability of citizens to go to a club, school, work, a grocery store," another Broomfield resident said.  

A second reading for the ordinances is set for Jan. 10.  

"We are not trying to take away anybody's guns," councilmember James Marsh-Holschen said. "That's not our goal, that's not our job, but it is our job to protect the health and safety of the community and that's what we're trying to do." 

In a statement sent to CBS News Colorado Wednesday, Mayor Guyleen Castriotta said she hopes the state will follow Broomfield's lead and take action to address gun violence. 

"Having local governments do this piecemeal is problematic," Castriotta said.