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Week of January 12, 2023
ADAMS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
Northglenn-ThorntonSentinel.com
VOLUME 59 | ISSUE 23
Colorado considers changing its Red Flag Law Mass shooting at club sparks new discussion BY MARKIAN HAWRYLUK KAISER HEALTH NEWS
J.J. Ament, president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, says Colorado is on a good track to attracting business, PHOTO BY LUKE ZARZECKI but can do more to put itself in a better position.
Climate, housing, transportation on deck for 2023 Transit-centered group hosts legislators and leaders to discuss coming year BY LUKE ZARZECKI LZARZECKI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Climate, transportation and housing all dominated the presentation at the 14th Legislative Breakfast on Jan. 5 in Broomfield.
The event included seven speakers ranging from Governor Jared Polis to State Senator Faith Winter. The event, hosted at Broomfields Aloft Hotel, was sponsored by the local transit advocacy group Community Solutions. The group focuses on transportation issues in the northern Metro Denver suburbs. XcelEnergy President Robert Kennedy laid out the road map for his company to reduce its fossil fuel emissions. By 2050, the company plans to have zero carbon emissions through renewable energy sources and
net-zero gas services. By that time, Kennedy said hopes are high for all cars to run on clean energy. That’s because their plan hopes one out of five cars will be electric by 2030, and all cars will be electric by 2050. Making that affordable is key. “Charging electric vehicles during our offering will cost the equivalent of $1 per gallon of gas,” he said. The plan will result in a reduction of five million tons of carbon emissions by 2030 per year. SEE LEGISLATORS, P4
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 10 | LIFE: PAGE 12 | CALENDAR: PAGE 15 | SPORTS: PAGE 16
EMOTIONAL LEARNING, ART, GOOD MEDICINE P12
A Nov. 19 shooting that killed five people and wounded 19 at a Colorado Springs nightclub has officials considering changes to strengthen Colorado’s red flag law, particularly in self-declared “Second Amendment sanctuaries,” where emergency petitions to remove a person’s guns are filed less frequently and usually denied. The three-year-old state law allows law enforcement officials or family members to seek a court order to seize the guns of a person who poses a threat to themselves or others. But the Club Q shooting underscores a fundamental challenge for it and other red flag laws: Sheriffs often refuse to use the measures based on a belief that they infringe on the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. El Paso County, where the Colorado Springs shooting happened, is one such place. It has the lowest approval rate for initial court petitions filed under the law of any county in Colorado where more than three cases have been filed, according to a KHN analysis of court records. Now Colorado lawmakers, like those in other states that have experienced mass shootings in recent years, will try to turn angst over the incident into legislative action to strengthen the state’s red flag law, including potentially expanding the pool of people who can petition for a protection order. SEE RED FLAG, P17