A new Colorado Public Radio report on last year’s Evergreen High School Shooting closely examines Colorado’s safe storage law, and whether Jefferson County authorities were vigorous enough in determining how the shooter got the weapon he used to shoot and critically injure two students before taking his own life.
The piece says that Colorado’s law, passed in 2021, “doesn’t make a gun owner automatically liable if a minor eventually gets access to a firearm. Prosecutors have to establish that the owner failed to securely store it and knew or reasonably should have known that a juvenile could gain access.”
What prosecutors could prove that the shooter’s parents knew or should have known was the question. Other than a conversation at the hospital, the parents refused to speak with investigators except through their attorney, the Sheriff’s Office told CPR.
In the wake of successful prosecutions of parents in other parts of the country, some Evergreen parents feel there should have been more of a push for a prosecution in this case.
Colorado Ceasefire Executive Director Laney Sheffel told CPR that although Colorado has some of the strongest gun laws in the country, implementation and enforcement remain a challenge. State Rep. Monica Duran, one of the authors of the 2021 safe storage law, said a new look at the existing law is in order. Colorado Ceasefire Legislative Action is evaluating legislative options for improving the law.