The Boulder City Council on Thursday night unanimously passed on first reading an ordinance that bans the sale and possession of certain firearms defined as assault weapons.
The council adjourned following a more than five-hour-long meeting where nearly 150 people signed up to speak for and against the proposed ordinance, which would also prohibit high-capacity magazines and bump stocks, a device that allows a semi-automatic weapon to be fired more like a fully automatic rifle. By the end of the evening, about 111 people actually spoke, according to Councilmember Sam Weaver.
Council members will deliberate the measure at a future meeting and possibly pass it twice more before it becomes an enshrined Boulder ordinance.
https://twitter.com/johnbearwithme/status/982089600049922048
A Boulder resident voices his opinion on the proposed gun ban. #boulder #GunContolNow #Colorado #MomsDemandAction #NRA pic.twitter.com/E46iXCiPVR
— Jeremy Papasso (@jpapasso) April 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/johnbearwithme/status/982117968288006146
The proposed ban comes in the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman High School shooting in Parkland, Fla., in February that left 17 students and staff dead and sparked a renewed debate on gun control in the United States.
Councilwoman Jill Adler Grano proposed, and received support for, consideration of a ban and called it a “no-brainer” — a sentiment that she stuck with on Thursday night just ahead of the vote.
“This is not a knee-jerk reaction,” Adler Grano said. “If it were a knee-jerk reaction, it would have come after the first mass shooting and there have been hundreds. I think it’s time to say ‘enough.'”
She added that the proposed ordinance does not strip residents of their Second Amendment rights — which was a fear expressed throughout the public hearing on Thursday — because the Second Amendment doesn’t guarantee the right to an assault rifle.
Read the full story at dailycamera.com.
Editors Note: This story has been updated to more accurately reflect the number of people who addressed the council, correct the name of the Red on Hand Pledge and clarify remarks by member Josh Ritzer.
