{"id":2443483,"date":"2019-04-26T14:48:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-26T20:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/colorado-ag-weiser-confident-sheriffs-will-enforce-states-red-flag-law\/"},"modified":"2019-04-26T14:48:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-26T20:48:00","slug":"colorado-ag-weiser-confident-sheriffs-will-enforce-states-red-flag-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/colorado-ag-weiser-confident-sheriffs-will-enforce-states-red-flag-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado AG Weiser confident sheriffs will enforce state\u2019s red flag law"},"content":{"rendered":"
Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock, left, speaks as Rep. Tom Sullivan, D-Aurora, looks on before Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signs a bill to allow Colorado to become the 15th state in the union to adopt a red flag gun law allowing firearms to be taken from people who pose a danger on April 12 in the State Capitol in Denver.<\/strong>
David Zalubowski | AP | AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser on Thursday said he\u2019s skeptical any sheriff in the state \u00ad\u2014 including Eagle County\u2019s \u2014 will refuse to enforce the new \u201cred flag\u201d law that will allow police to confiscate guns from people deemed by a judge to be a danger to themselves or others.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour job is to protect people and to enforce the law, and the idea that you could pick and choose what laws you will enforce is antithetical to the rule of law,\u201d Weiser told the Vail Daily following the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Law Enforcement Conference at the Vail Marriott on Thursday.<\/p>\n

More than half of Colorado\u2019s counties reportedly oppose the law, signed by Gov. Jared Polis on April 12, and at least 10 sheriffs have said they\u2019d rather be found in contempt of court and locked up in their own jails rather than take away someone\u2019s guns.<\/p>\n

Asked if he would compel sheriffs to enforce the law if they refuse to when it goes into effect on Jan. 1, Weiser again said he doubts it will come to that when and if sheriffs actually face \u201cthe extreme risk\u201d of someone who is mentally ill and clearly a threat to the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to confront that situation if and when it happens,\u201d Weiser said of Colorado\u2019s Extreme Risk Protection Order law. \u201cI am skeptical it\u2019s going to happen. I believe when push comes to shove, it\u2019s not going to happen, but if it does \u2026 we\u2019ll have to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Beek opposed to law<\/p>\n

Eagle County Sheriff James van Beek supported the concept of the law with some reservations last year before it was killed in the Republican-controlled state Senate, but this year he withheld public comment until the day Polis signed it into law \u2013 writing a 3,000-plus-word Facebook post opposing the measure on constitutional grounds and its failure to address mental health.<\/p>\n

On April 15, van Beek appeared on \u201cFox & Friends\u201d on Fox News, where host Brian Kilmeade introduced him by stating, \u201cColorado\u2019s controversial red flag gun law is now on the books, meaning guns can be taken away from people who are determined to be dangerous, but one sheriff in that state is vowing not to enforce the controversial new law \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Beek, in fact, never said during the interview that he wouldn\u2019t enforce the law. Nor did he make that statement in his lengthy Facebook post.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never said I wouldn\u2019t enforce it,\u201d van Beek told the Vail Daily Thursday. \u201cJust that I think it is a bad law as they failed to address the root problem, which is mental health, and that I do believe, along with many other sheriffs, that there are constitutional issues with this law and I would stand with those sheriffs challenging those issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018This law is constitutional\u2019<\/p>\n

Colorado is the 15th state to adopt some version of Extreme Risk Protection Order legislation, and this version is named after Douglas County Sheriff\u2019s Deputy Zackari Parrish, who was killed by a mentally disturbed man whose parents had warned he was a heavily-armed threat to the community. The law is backed by Republican Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock.<\/p>\n

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, the former dean of the University of Colorado Law School, a former U.S. Justice Department lawyer and U.S. Supreme Court law clerk, says the state\u2019s new red flag law is constitutional.<\/p>\n

Colorado Attorney General\u2019s office<\/p>\n

Weiser on Thursday promised to vigorously support anyone facing recall as a result of voting for or supporting the red flag bill, which he says will save lives \u2013 both from homicides and suicides.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis law is constitutional,\u201d said Weiser, who is the former dean of the University of Colorado Law School, a former U.S. Justice Department lawyer and U.S. Supreme Court law clerk. \u201cI will be defending the extreme risk protection law if it\u2019s challenged. Fifteen states have it now, including Colorado, and every other state where it\u2019s been challenged it\u2019s been upheld.\u201d<\/p>\n

But van Beek insists the new law is fraught with constitutional problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stand with other sheriffs in opposition to the red flag law on constitutional grounds as well as its failure to address the true issues, which are behavioral and mental health,\u201d van Beek wrote on Facebook. But he added that Eagle County, unlike other counties opposing the law across the state, does not need to declare itself a so-called Second Amendment sanctuary county.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because, he said, Eagle County has \u201calways utilized discretion in the implementation of our duties and will continue to do so \u2026 Gov. Polis understands this priority, as he stated on March 26, that he believes sheriffs are committed to enforcing laws approved at the capitol, but he also said they have discretion to decide which issues to focus on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weiser acknowledged there\u2019s a profound lack of mental health services in Colorado, especially in rural areas, but that\u2019s no reason to hold off on red flag gun laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not understand the argument that goes like this, \u2018Because we don\u2019t have adequate mental health services, let\u2019s let people who are mentally ill keep their weapons,\u2019\u201d Weiser said. \u201cThat\u2019s what you\u2019re saying, which is, \u2018Let\u2019s tolerate a level of risk that is avoidable.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018We have to be working on both fronts\u2019<\/p>\n

Weiser added that Eagle County is making great strides toward adequately funding and providing mental health services, including the 1A marijuana sales tax and a $60 million commitment to behavioral health by Vail Health.<\/p>\n

He added that the state is also trying to do its part on multiple fronts. Several bills in the current legislative session address mental and behavioral health, and the attorney general\u2019s office has created a framework for the Department of Health and Human Services to more rapidly provide competency determinations for mentally ill individuals in the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n

Weiser also said his office is vigorously defending the federal Affordable Care Act, which includes funding for mental health via Medicaid and Medicare expansions and mandates mental health parity with traditional health care coverage by private health insurance plans.<\/p>\n

Finally, Weiser points to a Colorado lawsuit first filed by his predecessor, former Attorney General Cynthia Coffman, against Oxycontin manufacturer Purdue Pharma. Saying he may expand the suit to include other manufacturers, Weiser adds any settlement funds will be directed toward substance abuse and mental health treatment throughout Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of work to do on this front,\u201d Weiser said. \u201cMy view is we have to do both. I wouldn\u2019t be in favor of not passing Extreme Risk Protection Order because we haven\u2019t done enough mental health [services], and I wouldn\u2019t be comfortable not doing enough mental health. We have to be working on both fronts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weiser added: \u201cThe reality is our jails and prisons by default end up becoming a place that\u2019s providing mental health services, and not at the level we need. I\u2019d much rather be providing alternative facilities and relieving jails and prisons.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock, left, speaks as Rep. Tom Sullivan, D-Aurora, looks on before Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signs a bill to allow Colorado to become the 15th state in the union to adopt a red flag gun law allowing firearms to be taken from people who pose a danger on April 12 in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2443483","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 08:45:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2443483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2443483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2443483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2443483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}