Colorado Enhances Gun Regulations to Combat Gun Violence - Essay Sample

Introduction

Gun violence has been a major issue in the United States, where many Americans have lost their lives because of ineffective gun laws in some states (Pierpoint et al., 2019). The enormous toll resulting from gun violence has resulted in the need to create strong gun laws in different states in the US and, more specifically, Colorado. Notably, in the face of massive toll related to gun violence in Colorado, the state has enhanced its regulations and laws concerning firearms. For instance, Colorado gun laws allow a person to possess a firearm in an automobile, place of business, or home, but they must always be in plain view (Weisser, 2018). However, it should be noted that the failure of Colorado to enforce an assault weapons ban and maintain magazine restrictions have considerably resulted in more gun violence death compared to other states (McLeigh, 2015). The paper will explore key gun laws in Colorado and its comparison to other states in terms of gun availability and crime. Also, the paper will assess and recommend the adoption of laws that would enhance its efforts in curtailing gun violence in the state.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Key Gun Laws in Colorado

It is worth noting that Colorado has effective and stronger gun laws, although they still need to be enhanced to ensure that mortality resulting from gun violence is curbed. In 2019, Colorado enacted Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) law that bans people subject to an ERPO from keeping firearms. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) often ensures that they outlaw the transfer of guns when the transfer has been depicted to be a violation of the federal law and Colorado law (Pierpoint et al., 2019). More significantly, domestic violence is often rampant in most states in the US, and evidence has shown that some individuals always exploit weak gun laws to harm their partners. In light of this, Colorado law has embedded some elements of federal law that prohibits the possession or purchase of a firearm by people that have been documented to be domestic abusers. Statistics have revealed that 66% of intimate female partners who are homicide victims are most often killed with a gun in Colorado (Giffords Law Center, 2019). Moreover, between the period of 2014 and 2018, research revealed that 66 women were killed by their intimate partners using a gun in Colorado, and this figure was far much beyond figures in California, which has strict gun laws (Giffords Law Center, 2019).

Colorado gun laws dictate that courts should always provide an order that would ensure that the defendants in domestic violence are prohibited from purchasing or possessing a firearm (Larson et al., 2018). Also, Colorado law has set a procedure that must be followed by domestic abusers in surrendering firearms in their possession. Further, statistics in Colorado have demonstrated that gun violence often results in adverse effects on black communities. Notably, less than 13% of Colorado's population is comprised of Black and Hispanic men (Giffords Law Center, 2019). More often than not, this group accounts for beyond 48% of Colorado's gun homicide victims (Giffords Law Center, 2019). Compared to other states, black men in Colorado aged between 18 and 24 have more than 12 times the chances of being killed with a gun than their white counterparts. Additionally, Colorado gun laws have established a procedure that must be observed by firearm dealers in conducting background checks on behalf of unlicensed firearm sellers (Kopel, 2017. The Colorado Locking Device section is embedded in the gun laws, and firearm dealers are required to establish that the potential purchasers have a locking device.

More fundamentally, studies have indicated that gun violence often causes trauma to young people that can morph into chronic stress and hence decreased productivity in the future (Ruggles & Rajan, 2014). Children sometimes fall victim to mass shootings in Colorado, and tracing the offenders always proves difficult to the state. Colorado law requires that an entity or a person involved in the sale of firearms should adequately record every gun transfer by noting transferee's details such as names, occupation, age, and address. It has emerged that from 2014 to 2018, close to 671 people aged below 25 were victims of gun violence in Colorado (Giffords Law Center, 2019). Also, 2018 evidence revealed that children aged between 1 and 17 had deaths traced to gun violence in the state (Giffords Law Center, 2019). Colorado law provides that a firearm can be temporarily removed from people who have been established to be a danger to themselves and others. Most gun deaths amounting to 77% have been traded to suicide in Colorado (Giffords Law Center, 2019). Research has demonstrated that between the period of 2014 and 2018, more than 2945 people in the state died as a result of gun-related suicide (Giffords Law Center, 2019).

Conclusion and Recommendation

Undeniably, gun violence has continued to be a major killer of most Americans in general and, more particularly, Colorado. Gun suicide, domestic violence, violent crimes, and homicides have always been traced to less strict gun laws that have been enacted by Colorado. In light of this, Colorado should ensure that it incorporates law regarding licensing. The state should enact a law that will require gun purchasers or owners to obtain a license to reduce the adverse effects of gun violence. More importantly, Colorado should develop programs that would ensure that high-risk people are identified to limit cases of gun-related suicides and domestic violence deaths.

References

Giffords Law Center (2019). Colorado Gun Laws. lawcenter.giffords.org. https://lawcenter.giffords.orgKopel, D. B. (2017). The Right to Arms in Nineteenth Century Colorado. Denv. L. Rev., 95, 329. https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/denlr95&div=18&id=&page=

Larson, D., Lamanna, B., Doe, J., & Dyer, R. (2018). Colorado Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board: First Annual Report, 2018. https://ncvc.dspacedirect.org/handle/20.500.11990/1622

McLeigh, J. D. (2015). The new normal? Addressing gun violence in America. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-21194-001

Pierpoint, L. A., Tung, G. J., Brooks-Russell, A., Brandspigel, S., Betz, M., & Runyan, C. W. (2019). Gun retailers as storage partners for suicide prevention: what barriers need to be overcome?. Injury prevention, 25(Suppl 1), i5-i8. https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/25/Suppl_1/i5.abstract

Ruggles, K. V., & Rajan, S. (2014). Gun possession among American youth: a discovery-based approach to understand gun violence. PLoS One, 9(11). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4221159/

Weisser, M. (2018). Do More Laws Equal Less Gun Violence?. Available at SSRN 3224810. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3224810