Recent Denver Shooting Highlights Importance of Utilizing Colorado’s Extreme Risk Law
New reports have emerged indicating that local law enforcement received warnings about the shooter a year in advance of last week’s shootings across Denver where five died and two were wounded. According to the Denver Post, Denver police received a tip about a book the gunman wrote that involved killing some of the people named in the book and were notified of concerns last year, but did not act due to what they said was a lack of sufficient evidence at the time.
Colorado currently has a strong extreme risk law, which went into effect on January 1, 2020. Extreme Risk laws empower loved ones or law enforcement to intervene and temporarily prohibit someone in crisis from accessing firearms, a proven way to intervene before an incident of gun violence — such as a firearm suicide or mass shooting. However, utilization and widespread awareness of Extreme Risk laws are critical to ensuring their effectiveness.
In 2019, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund launched a public awareness campaign called “One Thing You Can Do” to educate communities on how to use the Extreme Risk law in their state. Since the campaign was launched, Moms Demand Action volunteers have conducted hundreds of events and trainings on how Extreme Risk laws work in communities across the country.
More information about Extreme Risk laws is available here.
