On Tuesday, April 19 the Edgewater City Council held a work session to discuss a whole laundry list of potential gun control ordinances the city could consider passing. This was on the heels of another work session they’d held where a representative from gun control extremist group Ceasefire Colorado gave a presentation about how to “reduce gun violence” in their city, during which they provided grossly inaccurate information to the council. It should be noted Edgewater is a city of 5,000 people and less than 1 square mile that sits in the suburbs west of Denver in Jefferson County.
Here is the list the City Council discussed item by item during Tuesday’s meeting (read our prior writeup here):
- Prohibiting open carry city-wide.
- Prohibiting concealed carry in city-owned buildings and areas, including:
- Civic Center and city parks.
- Prohibiting conceal carry in other areas and buildings in Edgewater, including:
- Bars and liquor stores.
- Daycare centers and preschools.
- Medical facilities, including hospitals.
- Mental Health Care facilities and substance abuse treatment facilities
- Event venues, theaters, etc.
- Banning specific weapons, including:
- So-called “assault weapons”
- Large capacity magazines.
- So-called “ghost guns”
- Trigger activators such as bump stocks.
- Certain ammunition, such as 50-caliber, or armor piercing.
- Purchase and transfer of weapons, including:
- Setting a minimum age of 21 for all weapons and establishing a waiting period of 3-10 days.
- Regulating gun dealers with such things as (but not all inclusive):
- Extensive on-site security including video surveillance, steel bars, locked up firearms, behind counter storage of all guns, among other things.
- Prohibiting the display of firearms and ammunition in windows.
- Increasing standards for all employees.
- Periodic inventory reporting.
- Required reporting of certain sales.
- Required signage on gun violence issues.
- Prohibiting retail in residential neighborhoods.
- Reporting of stolen firearms within 48 hours.
As the meeting began, Edgewater Mayor John Beltrone was clearly surprised by the number of people who had filled the council chambers both in person and online. Dozens were there to provide public comment. Mayor Beltrone emphasized again and again that nothing was going to be voted on during the meeting, that it was all just discussion, as if we aren’t hip as to where these ordinances begin.
For 3 1/2 hours the council went through the list line by line, with each item they allowed a representative from Ceasefire to “explain” what it was and why it was needed. The information given by Ceasefire was so warped and inaccurate that several people corrected her during public comment. This so-called expert insisted 50 cal ammo was used by civilians to shoot airplanes out of the sky! Dead serious.
The city attorney then addressed the legal issues with each item, most of which he made clear the Supreme Court has yet to make rulings on, so pursuing them would undoubtedly mean the city would find it’s self embroiled in lawsuits.
There was a lot of confusion among council members and the city attorney about things like what a “ghost gun” actually is, let alone any knowledge about the current laws surrounding private gun making and non-serialized firearms. In fact, most of the items on the list they lacked knowledge of current law. This was glaringly obvious when they decided to pursue 6.8 on the list – requiring gun stores to report stolen guns to law enforcement within 48 hours. This is already a Federal Law.
During the public comment period, dozens of people spoke in opposition to their gun control list, some discussing how they had moved out of Denver to Edgewater so they had the ability to defend their families, unlike Denver who continues to restrict the right to self defense further and further. Two people spoke in support of Edgewater’s proposed measures.
By the end of the meeting, most of the list was scrapped with a decision to move forward with yet another work session to discuss the following: Item 2 – banning concealed carry on city property; Item 3.2 banning concealed carry in daycare and preschools; Item 4.3 banning ghost guns; and Item 6.8 requiring gun stores to report lost or stolen guns within 48 hours. They promised next time to bring in some experts from “both sides”. We’ll see if they follow up on this, but we’ve reached out to help facilitate it.
At the time of this writing, Edgewater has not set a date for the next work session. We’ll keep you updated.
Thank you to everyone who spoke up. Gun control is like a cancer that will spread if we aren’t diligent every time it tries to rear it’s ugly head. You may not live in Edgewater, but your community is watching – and hopefully taking note that the people won’t be happy if they try to bring this to your town.
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