Skip to content

Public speaks out on guns, smart meters at council forum

Speeding also a problem
2020_08_17_LL_longmont_council_chambers
Photo by Macie May

 

Guns and smart meters were the hot topics at an open forum before the city council Tuesday night. Residents also talked about speeding on local roads and the fate of swallows on the St. Vrain Creek.

The open forum is generally held twice a year to allow residents to bring up topics to councilors for discussion.

A group of proposed ordinances that includes mandating a 10-day waiting period before a gun purchase and limiting gun purchases to 21-year-olds,was targeted as overreach by some residents.

Rod Brandenburg, owner of Grandpa’s Gun and Pawn, said many of his customers have put their guns on lay-away and a 10-day waiting period illegally prevents them from claiming their own property. Brandenburg also said people can travel just a few miles out of the city to purchase a gun if the gun laws are implemented.

“If someone is thinking about buying a gun, they can easily travel somewhere to get one,” Brandenburg told the councilors.

Councilor Susie Hidalgo-Fahring, her voice shaking, said Longmont has to do something to stem the tide of mass shootings and asked Brandenburg for help. “What can we do to ensure our safety?” she asked, adding there appears to be no safe sanctuary against gun violence including churches and schools. “It’s getting worse, she said.

Hidalgo-Fahring, a teacher, said she has a rolling cabinet that she will use as a shield should her classroom come under fire. She also said she wants an open casket service should she die from gun violence. “I want people to know what this (gun violence) looks like,” Hidalgo-Fahring said.

Mayor Joan Peck also tried to reassure residents that the city is not going to confiscate weapons. “We are not going to take away anyone’s guns,” Peck said.

Some residents also spoke out against the city’s plans to introduce wireless smart meters in most homes over the next two years.

Doe Kelly, a frequent critic of wireless metering, told councilors the radiation generated by smart meters is one reason why there is a “massive decline” in the world-wide bee population.

“We are already part of the lobster in the boiling pot scenario,” Kelly said. “That lobster doesn't know it’s being cooked until it is too late.”

After a couple of residents spoke out against speeding in parts of Longmont, City Manager Harold Dominguez told councilors officials are considering using cameras to catch speeding motorists. That plan will be coming to the council in a few months.

Resident and open space advocate Shari Malloy told the council that newly planted trees at Dickens Farm Park are not being tended. “There are dozens of trees out there that are dying or dead,” Malloy said. “This is a huge investment by the city that is going to be lost.”

Malloy and Jamie Simo also urged the city to protect the endangered bank swallows on St. Vrain Creek as the city proposes a bond issue to pay for construction of flood mitigation in the creek area. "If this bond measure goes to voters for approval we want assurances in writing that our tax dollars won't go to a project that will destroy this special habitat," Simo told the council.