Home » CO Ceasefire News: Trump Shooting, Gun Tax Campaign

CO Ceasefire News: Trump Shooting, Gun Tax Campaign

GVP Groups React to Trump Shooting

The attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump last weekend has gun violence prevention advocates stressing that, target aside, the shooting was part and parcel of America’s gun violence crisis.

A statement from Brady condemned political violence while pointing out the stakes of this year’s election. “We can only hope that the events… inspire calls of action for common-sense gun reform and a deep examination of our nation’s deadly culture around firearms,” Brady President Kris Brown said.

Everytown for Gun Safety called the shooting “an unacceptable and tragic reminder of our nation’s gun violence crisis. Violence of any kind has no place in our political process. This horrific act is another reminder that no one is immune from experiencing gun violence. When guns are everywhere, for anyone, with no questions asked—no one is safe.”

Guns Down America said “We were shocked by the shooting at former President Trump’s political rally today. But we were not surprised. Guns are far too easy to get and the gun industry has long promoted guns as tools of political violence. To be clear: guns should have no place in our democracy, and political violence serves no purpose, other than to destroy faith in our political process.”

GVP groups also have called attention to the still-developing facts of the case, including that the shooter was a registered Republican and a gun enthusiast, that his weapon was an AR-15-type rifle belonging to his father, and the apparent confusion among law enforcement and security charged with keeping the event safe. These and other factors, GVP advocates say, highlight the “intersectionality” of gun violence as well as the complexities involved in fighting it.

All agree, however, that the first step in the continued fight against gun violence is to vote in November.

Everytown Report Looks at Gun Industry Role in Armed Extremism

Gun manufacturers and sellers have spent decades stoking fear among their audiences, invoking existential threats such as criminal hordes and tyrannical, gun-grabbing bureaucrats. This fear has directly led to dramatic increases in the numbers of Americans who see violence as a solution to political problems, according to a new report from Everytown for Gun Safety.

Paranoia and Profit: Armed Extremism and the Gun Industry’s Role in Fostering It builds on Everytown’s research on armed extremism to provide new insights and data about the current threat and the under-reported interplay between the gun lobby, gun industry, and far-right extremist movements. The report concludes that common sense gun policies, supported by the majority of the American public, could significantly reduce the threat of armed extremism in America.

Gun Tax Campaign Warms Up

With the election just over 100 days away, the campaign for a ballot initiative establishing an excise tax on firearms and ammunition to expand mental health services has begun. Colorado for Mental Health is the campaign established after this year’s passage of HB24-1349, placing on the ballot a 6.5% tax on the sales of guns, gun precursor parts, and ammunition. The tax is projected to raise $39 million a year to expand mental health services for veterans, help at-risk youth, and support victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and other violent crimes.

Colorado Ceasefire supported HB24-1349. Testimony in favor of the bill cited the following points of information (among others):

The federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funding stream has been cut in half since 2018. VOCA is the largest source of funding for Colorado’s victim services infrastructure, supporting more than 200 organizations, serving thousands of victims across the state, and comprising the majority of community-based programs’ budgets.
The veteran suicide rate in our state is significantly higher than both the national average and the national general population suicide rate, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
Individuals exposed to trauma, including military veterans and at-risk youth, often lack support accessing mental health care.
Colorado has the 10th highest rate of gun suicides in the US: one every 13 hours.
According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Education, suicide is the leading cause of death among youth and young adults (ages 10-24). Black children and teens are five times more likely than their white peers to die by guns.
Domestic violence (DV), sexual violence, and stalking cases have become more fatal; when a gun is available, women are five times more likely to be killed by an intimate partner. In Colorado, 86% of DV related deaths involve firearms.

Ammo Vending Machine News Causes Stir

Reports that an ammunition vending machine will be installed in a grocery store near Pueblo attracted attention this week. The machine will join fewer than 10 others currently in operation, primarily in the southeastern US. Colorado Ceasefire’s Tom Mauser appeared on KRDO News (Colorado Springs) and raised concerns, some of which did not make the final broadcast:

Suicide attempts are usually very impulsive, making easier access to ammunition more dangerous. There are many gun shops that cooperate with a State Patrol program to look out for customers who might be in crisis, very disturbed, or suicidal. That screening doesn’t happen with a vending machine.
Colorado has at least 1,600 gun dealers, who also sell ammunition. That’s more ammunition outlets than there are Starbucks, McDonalds, Subways, Wendy’s, Arbys and Taco Bell in our state—combined. What is the need for these machines, given the risk?
Decades of research has shown that overly easy access to guns and ammo is a major contributor to gun violence. We’re opposed to any effort to normalize ammo as ‘just another’ consumer item, like soda pop and candy bars.

Durbin Introduces Firearm Licensee Act

Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin introduced the Federal Firearm Licensee Act (FFLA) in the Senate. The bill would modernize and strengthen federal requirements for gun shops.

The bill’s provisions include requiring “facilitators”—third parties who host commercial marketplaces where guns are sold, such as gun shows or websites—to ensure that background checks are run on sales; increasing physical security requirements at gun shops, like video surveillance; modernizing record keeping; and requiring dealers to inform ATF of any firearm transferred before a background check has been completed. It will also give law enforcement tools to help solve crimes, disrupt firearms trafficking, and hold dealers who violate the law accountable.

Representative Robin Kelly introduced the House companion of the FFLA last year.

Maine Shooting Exposes NY Red Flag Law Loophole

The US Army couldn’t use New York’s red flag law to disarm a reservist experiencing a mental health crisis before a mass shooting in Maine because he was not a New York resident, a nurse practitioner told an independent commission investigating the shooting.

Major Mathew Dickison testified that Robert Card was displaying psychosis and paranoia in July 2023 when he evaluated Card at an Army hospital. Dickison determined Card was unfit for duty and shouldn’t have access to guns, and attempted to use New York’s SAFE Act to temporarily seize Card’s weapons–but gave up when it appeared the law could only be used on New York residents. Card, a Maine resident, was in New York for training.

Later, in Maine in October, Card killed 18 people in two locations before killing himself.