Yesterday, news of another mass shooting broke. According to the Gun Violence Archive, this is the 102nd mass shooting with four or more victims this year. That’s more mass shootings than days of the year so far in 2021. Although the details of this horrific massacre are continuing to emerge, initial reports indicate that the gunman used an AR15 military style assault weapon and large capacity ammunition magazines to outgun police and kill as many people as possible in a short amount of time.
In Colorado, gun owners are not required to license or register their firearms including assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines like the ones used in this attack and the Aurora theater attack. In addition, there is no limit on the number of firearms that can be purchased at one time, and gun owners are not required to report lost and stolen firearms.
Just ten days ago a regulation banning assault weapons in the city of Boulder, CO was struck down by a court and the NRA celebrated this decision as a victory.
“While the details of this horrific massacre continue to emerge, we mourn with the families of the victims of this attack and the Boulder community” said John Rosenthal, founder and chairman of Stop Handgun Violence. “While the shooter’s motives are still unclear, one thing is blatantly obvious: The time for action is now. The gun lobby’s unconscionable priority of guns over lives has disastrous consequences. In Massachusetts, we’ve closed loopholes and strengthened our gun laws and we now experience the lowest gun death rate and lowest gun related costs. But every state is not like Massachusetts. Over 100 Americans die each day due to gun violence and the unrestricted access to firearms in this country is a dangerous policy with dangerous consequences.”
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