Prepared remarks: Colorado Ceasefire 25th Anniversary (May 21, 2025)

As we reflect on 25 years of Colorado Ceasefire, we should take solemn notice of the important work you have done.  Ceasefire has accomplished so much and deserves our gratitude for its many accomplishments.  But it’s also a painful anniversary because the last 25 years in Colorado have seen too much gun violence, too much tragedy, and too much trauma.  And, yet, we have also seen courage, vigilance, and turning trauma into purpose—again and again.  From Littleton to Aurora to Colorado Springs to Boulder

In Colorado, we have witnessed tragedy after tragedy.  After each tragedy due to gun violence, survivors stepped forward and called for action.  After Columbine, for example, Colorado developed the Safe2Tell system, which serves to spread the word about potential planned attacks on schools.  And it serves as an early warning system so we can prevent potential suicides, which are responsible for more gun violence deaths than homicides.  Unfortunately, even after that mass shooting at Columbine and Colorado’s Ceasefire’s efforts at the General Assembly, Colorado did not enact any gun safety measures at that time that restricted who has access to dangerous weapons.

The Aurora movie shooting, like that at Columbine, is seared into our consciousness.  I have joined remembrance events for both events and am well aware that these events will be forever remembered for how they changed so many lives.  Just recently, Anne Marie Hochhalter, a survivor of the Columbia High School shooting, died of sepsis that the coroner concluded stemmed from gunshot wounds suffered that day.[1]  These wounds, literally and figuratively, never heal.

These tragedies remain a call to action about the easy access to weapons of war by deranged persons.  Just like the use of bump stocks in a Las Vegas shooting helped catalyze legal changes to ensure bump stocks fell within the federal definition of machine guns and became illegal under federal law,[2] the Aurora shooting was another call to action.  In the wake of that shooting, parents of those lost, like Tom Sullivan and Sandy Phillips, following the same path as those before them like Tom Mauser, called for legislative action to address gun violence.  And for the first time in Colorado, major gun safety laws were enacted—including ones requiring effective background checks and restricting the sort of high capacity magazine weapon used that day.  And Colorado Ceasefire was a big part of pushing those laws forward.

Most recently, a mass shooting at a King Soopers in Boulder represented another terrible reminder that we are all continue to be vulnerable to gun violence.  That tragedy, cost the lives of so many Coloradans, including Boulder PD officer Eric Talley whose brave efforts that day saved others.  Like Columbine and Aurora, the scars of that tragedy remain.  And the questions in the aftermath of that shooting—like the ones before it—remain, including “what can we do to keep dangerous firearms out of the hands of dangerous people?”

A Public Health Mindset

The questions asked in the face of prior gun violence tragedies remind me of questions asked about traffic fatalities when I was growing up.  Back then, the top threat to young people was dying in a car crash, including by DUIs.  Groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving called out that we must keep asking “what can we do to save lives?”  Today, I hear Moms Demand Action asking the same questions about gun violence deaths, which now are the leading cause of death for children and teens.[3]

When I ran to serve as Attorney General, I viewed this mindset—what you might call a public health mindset—as common sense.  And in Colorado Ceasefire, like Moms Demand Action, I found an ally.  What Colorado Ceasefire encouraged at that time—2018—was a concept that had been shown to save lives elsewhere:  a red flag law.  In Colorado, however, the political polarization of gun safety laws made this measure impossible to pass.  This was underscored when a leading Republican legislator was willing to support such a law was then pushed out of the Republican party.[4]  And just consider that the red flag law had been in the books in many other Republican states at the time. Notably, in 2005 a red flag law was passed in Indiana unanimously[5] and had been shown to save lives in red states like Indiana and Florida just as well as in blue states like California.[6]

Colorado’s 2019 adoption of a red flag law was a milestone for our state.  Back then, I and others stood arm-in-arm with Colorado Ceasefire to make a compelling case—if a person is a significant risk to themself or others, they should not possess a firearm.  Since its passage, I’ve worked to implement this critical law, encourage its use, and to defend it in court.

The mindset pushed by Colorado Ceasefire of seeing gun violence as a public health issue has led to the enactment and implementation of a number of gun violence prevention measures.  Since the passage of our red flag law, Colorado has moved on further protections as well, like raising the age one can buy a firearm (to 21),[7] requirements around safe gun storage,[8] and restrictions ghost guns.[9]  And, most recently, restricting semi-automatic weapons to those who passed a safety course and are certified as safe to possess such weapons.[10]

The importance of a public health mindset is that it calls us to consider the work of asking how we can save lives.  This work is more important than ever.  In Colorado, we lose on average 951 people each year to gun violence—and another 1,392 people, on average, are wounded by guns.[11]  Many of these deaths were preventable.  Consider domestic violence crimes, which our office evaluates carefully every year.  Last year, we found that many of those deaths—which occur mostly by firearms—involve people who never received protection from our legal system to prevent abusers from gaining access to firearms.[12]  We must continue to ask, in this context and others, how can we save lives.  Thank you, Colorado Ceasefire, for doing that important work.

The Court of Law and the Court of Public Opinion

One area where we must continue to the important work of advancing gun safety is in the court of law and the court of public opinion.  In the court of law, I am mindful of the Constitution’s protection of the right to bear arms, as provided by the Second Amendment.  That right is not absolute, and Justice Scalia said as much in the Heller decision:

“Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment right is not unlimited…. [It is] not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.”.[13]

Just recently, our Department was involved in an important case at the Supreme Court that applied the Heller decision’s standard and upheld a federal gun safety law that parallels Colorado’s requirement that those who perpetrate domestic violence must have their firearms removed.  In that case, the Supreme Court concluded that such restrictions are constitutional noting that “when an individual poses a clear threat of physical violence to another, the threatening individual may be disarmed.”[14]    Thus far, we successfully defended Colorado gun safety laws under the current legal framework, but we recognize that the challenges to them will keep coming.  And we will continue to stand with Colorado Ceasefire to defend and implement our gun safety laws.

As we consider how to continue to shape public opinion, I am a big believer in dialogue, and I’ve worked to advance dialogue on gun safety, too.  During the debate over the red flag law, this commitment was tested—but I stuck to it.  When I was asked at Colorado State University by a student why “I hated the Second Amendment,” referring to my support for our red flag law, I responded by asking him a question: “why are you more concerned by the prospect of removing a firearm from a responsible gun owner than leaving it in the hands of someone who would kill themselves this weekend?”  His response was encouraging.  He told me “I need to think about that.”  And he did.

Over the last several years, I have seen many in law enforcement who initially resisted the idea of a red flag law embrace it. That’s why our department did a report on the first year of the law and explained every case where it was used.  We are grateful that CU Anchultz Firearm Injury and Prevention Institute has continued this work and to date have reviewed every ERPO petition filed in our State to date. And it’s why we have applied for and are using a grant from the federal government to train law enforcement and educate the public about this law.

* * *

Before I close, I’d like to thank in particular Eileen McCarron, one of the co-founders of Colorado Ceasefire.  Eileen is dedicated to the mission of Colorado Ceasefire, which is “Because every Coloradan has the right to be safe where they work, live, learn and play,” and demonstrates what a difference citizens can make by getting engaged.  As Eileen often says, “We have a responsibility to our fellow travelers on this earth to use whatever resources we have—either God-given or gained by our efforts or struggles—to use them for the good of humankind.”  Amen.  Thank you all for using your time and talents to save lives.  It matters.  And I will continue to stand with you as you do so.

[1] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/paralyzed-columbine-survivors-death-ruled-homicide-26-years-school-mas-rcna196276.

[2] https://www.bradyunited.org/press/more-than-one-year-after-las-vegas-massacre-trump-administration-bans-bump-stocks.

[3] https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2024/guns-remain-leading-cause-of-death-for-children-and-teens

[4] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/this-former-colorado-legislator-was-voted-out-of-office-after-introducing-gun-safety-bill

[5] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/18/us/fedex-shooting-indianapolis-gun-laws.html

[6] https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/extreme-risk-protection-orders.html

[7] https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-169

[8] https://cdphe.colorado.gov/gun-storage

[9] https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-279

[10] https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb25-003

[11] https://everystat.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Gun-Violence-in-Colorado-2024-05.pdf.

[12] https://coag.gov/office-sections/criminal-justice/domestic-violence-fatality-review-board/

[13] District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 595(2008)

[14] United States v. Rahimi, 602 U.S. 680, 698 (2024).