While local law enforcement mulls how best to enforce proposed bans on gun sales, the owner of Grandpa’s Pawn and Gun said gun shop owners will sue to get the new laws overturned.
“The day those ordinances are passed, we are prepped for a lawsuit, ” Grandpa’s owner Rod Brandenburg said last week. “These laws are penalizing us and we have done nothing wrong.”
Grandpa’s has kept a clean slate of legal sales since it opened 23 years ago in downtown Longmont, he said. The business, which enjoyed a steady influx of customers one day last week, is regularly targeted in undercover operations conducted by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the FBI to ensnare the illegal sale of guns, he said.
“We are always on our toes because we know we are being watched,” Brandenburg said. “Besides, I don’t want our guns to be linked to something awful like a shooting. I couldn’t stand that.”
He said nearly all of his customers are return buyers but will be penalized by a 10-day waiting period after a gun sale. Many customers also have put guns on legal lay-aways or have other contractual arrangements with Brandenburg who will be punished even further by the waiting period.
The moves planned by Longmont and Boulder County, he said, are clear violations of Second Amendment rights. “The government shall make no law …” he said, his voice trailing off.
Both city and county officials point to Senate Bill 21-256 that allows local jurisdictions to enact an ordinance, regulation or other law prohibiting the sale, purchase, transfer or possession of a firearm, ammunition or firearm component or accessory.
“Thanks to the legislation’s sponsors Boulder County legislators Senate President Steve Fenberg and Representative Edie Hooton, as well as the state legislators who voted in favor of it, we now have the power to make real change to prevent gun violence, ” Boulder County Commissioner Matt Jones said in a news release in June.
The set of proposed ordinances the commissioners are scheduled for a vote on Aug. 2 are:
Ordinance 2022-2 An Ordinance Prohibiting the Purchase of Firearms by Anyone Under the Age of Twenty-One
Ordinance 2022-3 An Ordinance Requiring a Waiting Period Prior to the Sale of Firearms; and Setting Forth Related Details
Ordinance 2022-4 An Ordinance Prohibiting the Carrying of Firearms in Sensitive Public Places
Ordinance 2022-5 An Ordinance Prohibiting the sale and purchase of Assault Weapons, Large Capacity Magazines, and Trigger Activators
Ordinance 2022-6 An Ordinance to Regulate the Possession of Unfinished Frames and Receivers, and Unserialized Firearms
The Longmont City Council is considered a host of gun measures including:
- Banning the open carrying of weapons in the city.
- Enforcing a 10-day waiting period after the purchase of a firearm.
- Being 21-years-of-age before the purchase of any firearm.
- Prohibiting the sale of unserialized firearms or “ghost guns.”
- Signage on buildings reminding people about an open carry ban.
The council is scheduled to meet in executive session Tuesday, July 19 to discuss the proposed ordinances.
Longmont Public Safety Department spokeswoman Robin Ericson said last week via email that police were withholding comment on enforcement of the proposals until they get clear direction from the city council.
Boulder County Undersheriff Tom Sloan said the sheriff’s department will say more if the ordinances are passed. “We will wade through the process and determine what our next moves will be,” Sloan said.
Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty “strongly” supports local communities to take action to enact local gun laws, spokeswoman Shannon Carbone. “That being said, many of the local ordinances will be enforced by the City Attorney’s Office because the DA’s Office handles violations of state law,” Carbone said.
Brandenburg said he has met with City Councilor Tim Waters and representatives from the DA’s office and Longmont Police to reach a consensus on gun safety including the safe storage of legal weapons.
“But we can’t back away from our rights as gun owners and as a business,” he said. “And we won’t.”
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