{"id":33565,"date":"2023-06-06T12:09:05","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T18:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/polis-isnt-going-to-ban-guns-but-that-might-not-be-the-point-of-dayslong-sit-in\/"},"modified":"2023-06-06T18:09:05","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T18:09:05","slug":"polis-isnt-going-to-ban-guns-but-that-might-not-be-the-point-of-dayslong-sit-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/polis-isnt-going-to-ban-guns-but-that-might-not-be-the-point-of-dayslong-sit-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Polis isn\u2019t going to ban guns. But that might not be the point of dayslong sit-in"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Demonstrators
Demonstrators gather for a 10-minute period of silence to honor individuals who died by gun violence. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

At 4:58 a.m. Monday, a crowd of women shuffled around in front of the Colorado Capitol attempting to form a circle. Their backpacks were loaded with water and snacks in preparation for a long day ahead \u2013 Day 1 of demanding that Gov. Jared Polis sign an unconstitutional executive order banning all guns, which he\u2019d already made clear he would not do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that you ask for something that\u2019s not doable to make a point,\u201d said Gary Blum of Denver. Blum\u2019s daughters are both organizers with Here 4 The Kids, the national advocacy group organizing the sit-in. \u201cIt\u2019s a way to say that we don\u2019t accept the thinking that (the government) can get away with this. There are more guns in the United States than people. So the point is to make a statement, to say that we think it\u2019s wrong to have this many guns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here 4 The Kids wrote and delivered the executive order to Polis, which states that he will declare a state of emergency due to gun violence in Colorado, enact a total ban on all guns and establish a mandatory buyback program.<\/p>\n

The group plans to hold peaceful sit-ins at the Capitol from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Thursday, or until Polis signs the order, whichever comes first.<\/p>\n

The unconstitutionality of what Here 4 The Kids are asking of Polis and 23 other Democratic governors is not in dispute. However, \u201cthis illustrates the depth of feeling of at least this advocacy group and many people in the populous,\u201d Deep Gulasekaram, a professor of law at Santa Clara University, said in an interview. He will begin teaching at the University of Colorado Law School in July.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder to what extent even the people putting this forward genuinely believe that this is a realistic possibility to get the governor to sign this. But the objective may not necessarily be, that in this form, this is what\u2019s going to be what they\u2019re pushing for,\u201d said Gulasekaram, who is an expert in constitutional law. \u201cI do think that the depth of feeling and what they\u2019re trying to convey is that they would like the government in Colorado to do everything they possibly can in their power to reduce the number of firearms in Colorado and perhaps even push some constitutional boundaries in doing so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going big<\/div>\n

Part of the strategy in asking for such a radical \u2013 if unrealistic \u2013 change is to direct attention toward the anti-gun initiative, regardless of whether their demands will be met.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuch like how we\u2019re addressing all social issues, somebody has to be the brave one to be the first to try, and to step out,\u201d said Erika Righter, Denver-based organizer for Here 4 the Kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe (Polis) is going to have to do something very, very radical. The sad thing is I use the word radical very carefully, because I don\u2019t think it\u2019s very radical for all of us to want to be able to go to a grocery store and not think about (gun violence) or send our kids to school and wonder if today is the day you\u2019re going to see them after school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saira Rao, Here 4 The Kids\u2019 co-founder, doesn\u2019t think the executive order requested by her group is any more radical than the fact that there have been 276 mass shootings in the U.S. this year, and that Americans refuse to take bigger steps toward violence prevention. Others on the lawn expressed similar frustrations with the incremental approach of legislation.<\/p>\n

How gun bans in other countries have worked<\/div>\n

The idea of a gun buyback program isn\u2019t new for the Denver area.<\/p>\n

Aurora City Council members, spurred by shootings at Aurora Central High School on Nov. 15, 2021, and a few days later at Hinkley High School, hosted eight local events last year where people were able to exchange firearms for cash. The firearms were then destroyed and recreated as garden tools and jewelry.<\/p>\n

Although the goal of these programs is to limit and reduce gun violence, there is a lack of research suggesting they do in fact lead to fewer firearm casualties. Even though there might be a lower percentage of guns in a household, it still only represents a small fraction of guns in a community that are actually relinquished.<\/p>\n

The gap is still wide as higher risk individuals are unlikely to be among those who participate in these buyback programs. But research at Gun Policy in America, a RAND initiative, shows higher community awareness of gun violence, more responsible gun ownership habits and healthier relationships between communities and public agencies.<\/p>\n

Both Australia and New Zealand passed significant gun-reform legislation following mass shootings. Soon after the 1996 Port Arthur Massacre in which a person using semi-automatic weapons killed 35 people and wounded 23 others at a tourist site in Tasmania, Australia enacted the National Firearm Agreement that banned automatic and semi-automatic firearms, implemented a national firearm registry and created strict licensing guidelines to possess a gun. There was also a mandatory buyback program that gathered more than 640,000 firearms. Firearm-related casualties have dramatically dropped in Australia since then.<\/p>\n

Similar measures were passed in New Zealand after the Christchurch Mosque Shootings in 2019, where 51 people were killed and at least 40 were injured.<\/p>\n

Recruiting people to the cause<\/div>\n

Annie Miller, associate dean at the University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs, wonders if there is a more productive tactic to get Polis on board.<\/p>\n

The governor, a former member of the board of education, has shown repeatedly that he cares deeply about education.<\/p>\n

With enrollment statistics showing a decline in the number of students across all grades and into higher education, Miller says she can\u2019t help thinking about the mothers in the Here 4 The Kids movement talking about how they\u2019ve decided not to enroll their kids in school because of concern for their safety.<\/p>\n

\"Hundreds
Hundreds of people gathered Monday at the Colorado Capitol to advocate for a ban on guns. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cSeveral of the moms said they met on Zoom after the most recent shooting at East High School,\u201d Miller said. \u201cIf these parents were to have their kids do a \u2018sit-out\u2019 protest from schools or if they changed tactics around this executive order toward education, they might increase their likelihood of success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research repeatedly suggests that the more access people have to guns or to firearms, the more likely they are to die from firearms, she said. Pushing the Legislature to introduce bills that can reduce gun violence might have more success, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom that research side, I would be interested to see if this group (Here 4 The Kids) starts making that argument.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Hot pang of whiteness\u2019<\/div>\n

Wolf Terry signed up as a Colorado volunteer with Here 4 The Kids six weeks ago.<\/p>\n

She thought she\u2019d be handing out flyers, but on her phone call with Rao, she all of a sudden became an organizer. \u201cShe was like \u2018You\u2019re a field organizer now. Just say yes.\u2019\u201d Terry said. \u201cSo I was like: \u2018yes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Rao spoke to Terry more directly than she had been spoken to before by a woman of color. \u201cShe wasn\u2019t coddling me or taking care of my feelings, she was saying to me: \u2018You have power. Use it. Now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Terry calls the feeling she had when she was speaking with Rao, \u201ca hot pang of whiteness. It\u2019s something that speaks directly to our shame as white women, our guilt as white women, our white women tears. When Saira spoke to me like an adult, it wasn\u2019t a yell, it was a demand: You need to do this. I felt it in my bones.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Denise
Denise Krebs and Lori Portillo of Joshua Tree, California, hold signs advocating gun control. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Others at the Capitol echoed Terry\u2019s sentiment, saying that their presence was about more than just guns, but the intersection of gun violence and white supremacy. In 2015, Kimberly Kimball of Portland, Oregon, lost her brother to gun violence. She started working with Moms Demand Action. \u201cI did that for a few years, I shared my story a lot. We have lots of gun laws now, but the rate of gun deaths hasn\u2019t gone down,\u201d Kimball said.<\/p>\n

Drained by the personal toll of the work, Kimball stepped away for a few years. Then her sister was killed in a domestic violence incident, also involving a gun, in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been sitting around trying to figure out if I wanted to get involved again, since this is very personal. Then I saw this,\u201d Kimball says, referring to the June 5 demonstration, \u201cand I appreciated the abolitionist approach, versus the lawmaking approach I was doing with Moms Demand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anti-guns vs. gun-violence prevention<\/div>\n

\u201cTo be clear, Everytown for Gun Safety, Students Demand Action, and Moms Demand Action are gun violence prevention organizations, not anti-gun organizations,\u201d says Sam Levy, regional legal director of Everytown for Gun Safety. \u201cWe advocate for proven, viable gun violence prevention policies that are consistent with the Second Amendment and our movement includes many responsible gun owners who are fighting for gun safety and to end the gun violence epidemic.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few steps away from where Kimball was telling her story, Missy Espinoza, a server who lives in Denver, sat by herself in a black fold out chair. She held two hand-scrawled signs: \u201cGuns Save Lives\u201d and \u201cFree Gun Training.\u201d Espinoza is a certified pistol instructor, and she\u2019s serious about the free gun training.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want anybody to be a victim,\u201d Espinoza said. \u201cI want there to be less injustice in the world, less suffering, less victims. And the best way to do that is to be empowered.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says that she thinks the best way to curb gun violence is to teach young people guns as a technology. \u201cYou get to them before their little minds are exposed to all of this evil. We\u2019re desensitized to violence, we\u2019re desensitized because we watch these movies and play these video games, and it\u2019s just like, we\u2019re desensitized to how irresponsibly (guns) are being handled.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a firearm owner requires you to be responsible,\u201d she continued. \u201cYou can\u2019t commit crimes; you can\u2019t be violent; you can\u2019t get in fights; you can\u2019t be a drunk; you can\u2019t be a drug addict; you have to be a responsible person.\u201d<\/p>\n

First day ends in a downpour<\/div>\n

Though the sit-in was scheduled to run until 8 p.m. Monday, a downpour just before 4 p.m. abruptly ended the event.<\/p>\n

\"A
A demonstrator takes shelter during a downpour that cut short the first day of the Here 4 The Kids sit-in attempting to convince Colorado Gov. Jared Polis to sign an executive order to outlaw guns. (Parker Yamasaki\/The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Colorado State Patrol, which manages security for the Capitol complex, estimated 500 to 800 people participated in the sit-in Monday. Here 4 The Kids organizers said they were hoping for 25,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so happy that so many people showed up today. And I wish that the thousands of white women that had RSVP\u2019d that they were coming from Colorado had actually stayed true to their word, and their children, and had actually shown up,\u201d Rao said at around 2:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing, but it\u2019s also a great start,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s the beginning of a new day in this country, and we are very happy about it. We just wish and hope that more Coloradans will show up today and tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Polis refuses to sign the executive order in a few days when the sit-in officially ends, Here 4 The Kids leaders said they will \u201crevisit everything\u201d and reassess their options using the lessons they learned this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time that this state executive tactic has been used, so we\u2019ve got a lot of work to do,\u201d Rao said. \u201cThe great news is that people\u2019s minds and thinking are shifting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

asking for such a radical \u2013 if unrealistic \u2013 change is to garner attention<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,233,1615,150,819,28,107],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-33565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-constitution","tag-firearms","tag-gov-jared-polis","tag-headlines","tag-laws"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33565"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=33565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}