NEWS RELEASE
BOULDER COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
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Like so many grieving communities across the United States, Boulder County residents and families have had their lives and hearts shattered by gun violence.
In the wake of recent horrific mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York—and in addition to so many other tragic and preventable gun deaths, including the mass shooting at King Soopers in Boulder last spring which left 10 members of our community dead—the Board of County Commissioners is declaring June 2022 Gun Violence Awareness and Prevention Month and taking action to prevent gun violence in our Boulder County communities .
During the month of June, the Boulder County Commissioners and other communities across the county will be considering the passage of local gun violence prevention ordinances to protect the safety of children and adults in our communities.
The Commissioners invite all community members to: participate in Gun Violence Awareness and Prevention Month, wear orange on June 3 to help raise awareness about gun violence, support gun violence prevention measures, and honor the lives of gun violence victims and survivors.
Boulder County is joining other organizations and governments across the United States in raising awareness of gun violence and is working towards the prevention of gun violence here in Boulder County. From June 3 to June 5 the Courthouse will be lit in orange in solidarity with the national movement to end gun violence.
The United States is an outlier in gun violence as compared to any of its peer nations and prevention and policy are essential to stemming the tide of violence in our communities. The U.S. ranks first in the world for firearm related suicides and first for all firearm-related deaths among other developed nations. The U.K., Australia, Canada, and many European countries have enacted gun violence prevention policies to protect public safety. Research has demonstrated that nations and states with strong gun violence prevention policies have fewer deaths and injuries from gun violence than jurisdictions with weaker policies.
The Boulder County Commissioners are committed to preventing gun violence and have supported state legislation to prevent gun violence and death. In 2021, Boulder County supported Senate Bill 256, sponsored by Boulder County legislators Senate President Steve Fenberg and Representative Edie Hooton, which removed the restrictions that had prohibited local jurisdictions from passing gun violence prevention ordinances.
Each Commissioner views these current efforts to curtail gun violence as a continuation of a long-standing commitment that stems from their previous experience, including positions in education and in the state legislature:
I was ready to take action when Colorado suffered the nation’s first school shooting at Columbine High School in 1999. I was ready to take action when I was teaching in the classroom and participating in active shooter drills with my students. I was ready to take action when I waited to see my children at their school after a lockdown due to a gun on campus. And I am ready to take action this month as an elected official representing Boulder County, to pass ordinances that will protect the lives of children and adults in our communities.
-Commissioner Marta Loachamin
Mass shootings and suicide by gun are heartbreakingly all too common. Comprehensive gun violence prevention policy must be passed at the national level, but until Congress takes action, it is up to state and local governments to take what actions that we can to protect our communities. I helped successfully push through gun safety legislation when I served in the State Senate, and now will work to do the same at the local level.
-Commissioner Matt Jones
We know that the majority of Americans support gun violence prevention policy. We also know that gun violence is an issue of racial justice, with people of color disproportionately impacted by gun-related homicides and assaults. I was a leader on gun safety legislation and stopping efforts to relax background checks in the legislature, and I will continue to lead at the county level. With the authority counties now have, we are committed to enacting policies that will save lives.
-Commissioner Claire Levy
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