When the sun rose on Sunday morning at least 29 families across the nation were dealing with the fact that a loved one will never be coming home again. My thoughts are with these families, and I continue to pray for them and their fallen loved ones. I continue to ask myself why do we refuse to do more than just offer \u201cthoughts and prayers.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is what I would offer to prevent more unnecessary deaths.<\/p>\n
\u2022 increase funding and access to mental health<\/p>\n
\u2022 allow doctors to inform patients of possible dangers in gun ownership<\/p>\n
\u2022 a full criminal and psychological background check on all gun purchases<\/p>\n
\u2022 a 48-hour waiting period on all gun purchases<\/p>\n
\u2022 five-year mandatory renewal of firearm licenses<\/p>\n
\u2022 national red flag bill.<\/p>\n
This is one of the only issues in America where we choose to do nothing \u201cbecause you can\u2019t stop bad people.\u201d It\u2019s beyond time we do something. <\/p>\n
To paraphrase JFK, we choose to stop these events in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.<\/p>\n
Colin Wilhelm<\/strong><\/p>\n Glenwood Springs<\/strong><\/p>\n Not signing the recall petition<\/p>\n The Post Independent has run a story on a local recall petition effort regarding Gov. Polis, who was elected last year with the help of a majority of Garfield County voters. The grounds for a recall filed with the Secretary of State\u2019s office are policy disagreements. There are no allegations of criminal activity, scandal or wrongdoing of any kind. So we\u2019re looking at a \u201cgimme a do-over\u201d effort better suited for consideration during the 2022 gubernatorial election where policy disagreements can be openly debated.<\/p>\n The governor was upfront with voters about what he wanted to accomplish and set about doing it with a Democratic Legislature. <\/p>\n One of the governor\u2019s initiatives celebrated at my house is a cap on co-pays for insulin. I have a daughter who is a Type I diabetic who will require insulin her entire lifetime. I am grateful that she now has a better chance of being able to afford the treatment necessary to keep her alive.<\/p>\n So I for one will not be signing a Polis recall petition and urge all Coloradans to make the same choice.<\/p>\n