{"id":2449058,"date":"2019-09-23T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=313305"},"modified":"2019-09-23T21:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T03:00:00","slug":"gun-advocates-take-aim-at-aspens-proposed-prohibition-of-deadly-weapons-in-city-buildings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/gun-advocates-take-aim-at-aspens-proposed-prohibition-of-deadly-weapons-in-city-buildings\/","title":{"rendered":"Gun advocates take aim at Aspen\u2019s proposed prohibition of deadly weapons in city buildings"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Aspen City Council\u2019s proposal to ban people from carrying guns in city-owned buildings was characterized by members of the public Monday as \u201claughable\u201d and \u201csilly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just over a half dozen people spoke during public comment, telling council not to pass the new law<\/a>, which elected officials passed on first reading.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems to imply you know better than us,\u201d said one woman who lives in Garfield County, calling council\u2019s action \u201claughable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe audacity of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another Garfield County resident told council she does not want to be disarmed in Aspen and it\u2019s her Second Amendment right to carry a gun.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are not above the Supreme Court and you are not above the law of the land,\u201d she said, saying Aspen\u2019s effort is silly.<\/p>\n

Councilman Skippy Mesirow told that woma<\/a>n that when he saw her gun strapped to her leg, he couldn\u2019t concentrate on anything else and he felt a wash of fear come over him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a complete shift of energy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry that your concentration is so small,\u201d she shot back. \u201cMy rights do not end where your fears begin.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ordinance was introduced after council members heard from some city staffers who said they want to feel safe in their workplace.<\/p>\n

And with increased deadly weapon violence around the United States, council members are concerned for the personal safety of visitors, guest and employees.<\/p>\n

Councilman Ward Hauenstein said it\u2019s a symbolic measure and would not be actively enforced with metal detectors or searches.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a politically correct measure,\u201d he said, adding it\u2019s to protect the public and city staff, the latter of which are not allowed to carry weapons in their workplaces.<\/p>\n

Hauenstein also said he doesn\u2019t agree with open carry laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think open carry is stupid because you become the first target in an incident,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Councilwoman Rachel Richards pointed out that several large companies like Walmart and Walgreens have banned guns from entering their stores.<\/p>\n

Aspen resident Andrew Sandler said he doesn\u2019t want to be in a place where he can\u2019t defend himself and guns are necessary for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t legislate against crazy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Aspen residents Bob Morris and Phyllis Bronson separately supported council and the ordinance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI commend council for taking such a proactive stance,\u201d Morris said, adding he is currently applying for a concealed weapon permit.<\/p>\n

Bronson said gun control is the No. 1 issue in this country and anyone who thinks guns are the answer is wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cAspen is not Garfield County and we can make our own decisions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Council will consider the ordinance again on second reading Oct. 8.<\/p>\n

csackariason@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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

Aspen City Council\u2019s proposal to ban people from carrying guns in city-owned buildings was characterized by members of the public Monday as \u201claughable\u201d and \u201csilly.\u201d Just over a half dozen people spoke during public comment, telling council not to pass the new law, which elected officials passed on first reading. \u201cIt seems to imply you […]<\/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-2449058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 05:01:14","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\/2449058","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=2449058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449058\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}