After thoroughly investigating the murder of Douglas County sheriff’s Deputy Zackari Parrish, both Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock and 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler have called again for a law that would allow Colorado judges to take firearms away — at least temporarily — from those who are severely mentally ill.
The reports detailing law enforcement’s interactions with Parrish’s murderer in the weeks building up to a deadly shooting at a Douglas County apartment should help tip the scales for a bill that already has some support from brave Republicans willing to cross the NRA for reasonable, responsible gun legislation.
We were dismayed in May when Republicans killed a red flag bill in a Senate committee that would have allowed the confiscation of firearms from those deemed a “significant risk” to themselves or others. Every Democrat in the House supported the bill which was sponsored by Assistant House Minority Leader Cole Wist, R-Centennial, and Assistant House Majority Leader Alec Garnett, D-Denver.
Republicans in the Senate will very likely have another chance in 2019 to do the right thing.
It’s easy in the anguish and uncertainty following any murder to say unequivocally that we should have seen the signs and stepped in earlier.
The truth is it’s impossible to tell who will turn violent.
But when the warning signs are there, our law enforcement, prosecutors and judges must have the tools necessary to intervene before tragedy strikes.
Generally red flag laws allow for prosecutors to ask a judge to order the confiscation of firearms from an individual. The complication is that often these unstable individuals have not committed a crime. There are ways to put enough safeguards in the legislation to protect civil liberties and Second Amendment rights, including requiring review of the order after a set period of time. This ensures due process to those who have their personal property — one specifically protected by the Constitution — seized by the government.
And that should be enough due process for gun owners; after all, America’s judiciary is entrusted with taking people’s children away, forever.
Spurlock and Brauchler are also calling for legislation that would make it easier for officers and deputies to take someone into custody on a 72-hour mental health hold. We support that effort too, as long as the bill includes additional funding so the mentally ill aren’t simply thrown in a jail cell. These individuals need help, not punishment, for their illness
Recognizing that putting people in jail who haven’t committed a crime is a violation of civil liberties, lawmakers in 2017 made it illegal to put someone in jail for a mental health hold and dedicated about $7 million a year for crisis mental health services. There’s no way that’s enough money to address everyone in critical need in this state.
Colorado lawmakers, and this state’s next governor, should work hard to ensure that never again do we find ourselves saying: that more could have been done, that we should have intervened, that we should have taken his guns.
— The Denver Post
