Town Hall Meeting Highlights Need for Resident Involvement
Trevor Phipps
Concerns of local residents over a new gun bill have reached a new danger level now that the legislation continues to advance through the state legislature.
Senate Bill 25-003, titled “Semiautomatic Firearms & Rapid-Fire Devices,” recently passed the state House and is headed back to the Senate for another vote. Although the bill has greatly changed from its initial plan, which once represented an all-out ban on semiautomatic weapons with detachable magazines, state gun advocates are not happy with the new version. More notably, they are crying foul over rules requiring gun safety classes to purchase certain weapons and fear these regulations will get approved by lawmakers and ultimately end up as a new state law with the governor’s signature.
Over the last several weeks, the local Teller Rifles Organization, a group of self-defense enthusiasts that run a number of classes and community functions, held a series of town hall meetings for the purpose of updating residents on what has been happening at state legislative sessions. Teller County Commission Chairman Dan Williams and Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell spoke to the packed crowd in a forum in Divide last week. More specifically, they informed citizens about certain bills that they have been fighting against and asked for their help.
The main message of the meeting was that residents need to get their voices heard and speak out against SB 25-003, and other anti-gun legislation. Williams and Mikesell both urged Teller residents to write or e-mail all of the state representatives and tell them to vote against the bill. Moreover, they further asked residents to write Colorado Governor Jared Polis and tell him to veto the bill, if it arrives at his desk to sign.
According to the commission chairman, the state gun advocates’ last hope is that the court system will offer some relief. “If any of these bills get passed there will be an injunction filed, which basically halts everything. Then eventually these bills are going to go to the Supreme Court,” Williams said.
During a meeting on March 24, Williams talked about how the state now finds itself deep in debt. As a result, he doesn’t believe more laws should be coming from state lawmakers that will cost the taxpayers more money. He explained that the new version of SB 25-003 plans to use money generated by state parks’ passes that is supposed to go towards maintaining the parks and wildlife in the state.
Aside from SB 25-003, Williams talked about other anti-gun bills making their way through the state legislature that residents should oppose. One law would make it illegal for anyone under 21 to purchase ammo. And if it passes, stores will now have to keep their ammo locked away in glass cases.
Williams also talked about a new law that would put restrictions on gun shows. “Let’s say that we are going to have a gun show here, local law enforcement would have to do a security plan and an intelligence briefing and they would then have to take full liability if something should happen,” Williams said. “We have good insurance for the sheriff, but he and his folks take enough risks.”
Crime Rates Rise in Teller County
At the most recent gun forum, the sheriff focused on how crime rates have gone up locally over the last several years. “Last year we received right around 50,000 calls for service,” Mikesell said. “That is equal to the city of Fountain.”
Mikesell said that as the county has grown, so have problems such as crime and traffic issues. Last year, Mikesell said the sheriff’s department issued 2,479 traffic tickets “
Now that the sheriff’s office is fully staffed with approximately 120 employees, they have seen a huge hike in crime with a higher police presence. The sheriff said burglaries of businesses are down 89 percent compared to 2023. Burglaries at residences have also dropped over the last two years.
But the most concerning thing, according to Mikesell, is that major crimes and violent crimes have been on the uptick. 911 calls in the county last year exceeded 5,000, but they answered them all in an average of two seconds, stated the sheriff.
“Our drug and narcotics arrests went up 119 percent from last year to this year,” Mikesell said. “Last year to the year before was another (year with a) 100 percent increase. We are seeing an extreme amount of narcotics coming through the county.”
The sheriff said he is concerned about other crime increases as well. Sex offenses on children went up 67 percent, and violation of restraining orders went up 36 percent, according to Mikesell.
And to make matters worse, the sheriff believes that policies at the state level have caused an increase in crime. “Eight years ago, and prior to that, when people would be arrested and then paroled, they would go back to jail if they broke another crime. Now, the state’s parole and probation system are not sending people back to jail if they break another crime or violate conditions of their probation,” said Mikesell.
The sheriff concluded by talking about his experiences in testifying against SB 25-003 at the state Capitol. The sheriff said that the state needs to put more focus on mental health issues, instead of taking guns away from law abiding citizens.
During last week’s forum, the sheriff also fielded a number of questions from the audience about how exactly to contact state legislators, and why state lawmakers are going after guns. The sheriff gave information on how to contact the governor and state lawmakers.
The sheriff fears that the passage of SB 25-003 is just the beginning. He said residents could see more anti-gun legislation coming forward in the near future.
