For Immediate Release
Contact: Eileen McCarron
303-946-6959 or 303-377-7697
Colorado Ceasefire celebrates today the Denver City Council for banning the sale and possession of bump stocks, a significant step towards protecting citizens of our city from gun violence. Denver is now the second city in the country to adopt this commonsense measure.
The horrific shooting in Las Vegas, which rained bullets on concert goers killing 58 people and wounding 500 was the first time most Americans had heard of bump stocks. But it won’t be the last time. After the Las Vegas shooting, bump stock sales soared. Bump stocks are still legal in most of the country, although Colorado Ceasefire and other gun safety advocates are working to ban them.
“Bump stocks can be purchased and mounted on a gun for about $100,” explained Eileen McCarron, President of Colorado Ceasefire Legislative Action. “They essentially turn a firearm into a machine gun. Banning them does not affect second amendment rights, because a bump stock is not a firearm.”
McCarron noted the shooter in Las Vegas was able to fire about 90 rounds every ten seconds, firepower that devastated the lives of so many in the Las Vegas shooting.
The city council bill was introduced by Councilman Rafael Espinoza and approved on an 11-1 vote. The Council also reduced the high capacity limit of Denver’s assault weapons ban to 15 rounds, a regulation that will now match the state’s gun magazine ban. An amendment offered by Councilmember Flynn to “grandfather in” ownership of larger magazines failed on a tie vote. Flynn was the lone vote against the bump stock ordinance because he believed his amendment should have been included.
In this year of growing civic participation, it was a civic activist, Alan Kennedy-Schaffer, who alerted the city council to the need for the bump stock ban. Kennedy-Schaffer is running for the Colorado Senate.
“We are grateful to Alan Kennedy-Schaffer for bringing this issue forward, and especially for the leadership of Councilmember Espinoza,” McCarron stated. “Now our attention turns to the state legislature, where we hope to see a bump stock ban enacted this year.”
Colorado Ceasefire, an all-volunteer statewide organization, has been working for freedom from gun violence since 2000. Ceasefire initiated and was instrumental in the enactment of the 2013 Colorado firearms laws, which included universal background checks, a high capacity magazine ban, and domestic violence firearms relinquishment. Ceasefire began advocating for an Extreme Risk (red flag) law in 2016. Learn more at www.coloradoceasefire.org
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