Gun control, ‘red flag’ laws did nothing to stop horrible mass shooting at gay nightclub in Colorado

First and foremost, the murders of fellow Americans in Colorado Springs, Colo., earlier this week are horrific, sad, and tragic.

It doesn’t matter that the murders occurred at a gay and lesbian hangout; that is immaterial because, as of this writing, there is nothing to suggest that the murders were motivated by anti-LGBTQ animus. Should that change, it still won’t alter the fact that this was yet another senseless act of taking life.

That said, it is important to continue to point out that left-wing gun control and “red-flag” warning laws are doing practically nothing to stop such incidents; but rather, by preventing honest, law-abiding people from protecting themselves, these laws are effectively getting people killed.

And that’s particularly troublesome, given Colorado’s history of mass shootings in the modern era, beginning with the Columbine High School massacre in the late 1990s.

“The Saturday night shooting in Colorado Springs’ Club Q occurred despite the fact that the state adopted stringent gun controls in the months and years following the December 14, 2012, attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School,” Breitbart News reported on Monday.

“In the months immediately after the Sandy Hook attack, Colorado’s Democrat lawmakers pushed universal background checks through the legislature. Democrat Gov. John Hickenlooper signed the legislation into law on March 19, 2013,” the outlet continued.

Reuters reported just days before the legislation was signed that state Republican House Minority Leader Mark Waller issued this warning: “If the goal is to enhance public safety, this bill won’t do it. If a criminal wants to perpetrate a crime he can still get a gun.”

At the same time he signed a measure for universal background checks including on private gun sales and purchases, he also signed a measure banning “high capacity” ammunition magazines, Breitbart‘s Awr Hawkins pointed out.

USA Today reported after the Club Q shooting that “Colorado passed a so-called ‘red flag’ law in 2019 that allows police to seize firearms from individuals deemed a risk to themselves or others.” Fox News went on to note that the red flag law did not receive one GOP vote in the Colorado legislature.

But Eagle County Sheriff James van Beek slammed the red flag law at the time as “ludicrous,” going on to say that it treats firearms owners like “criminals” while also ignoring the fact that “a disturbed mind will not be deterred by the removal of their guns.”

“By removing guns from someone intent on committing suicide or murder, we still have the danger of someone who may be unbalanced, now, angrier than before, and looking for another means … explosives, poisons, knives, car incidents of mowing down groups of unsuspecting innocent,” van Beek added.

Under the law, the sheriff said that “there is just over a 50/50 chance of accuracy” that officials and authorities will be right in taking a person’s guns, noting that there is no provision to require a mental health professional to make a determination depriving someone of their Second Amendment rights without allowing them their Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial.

“Like the flip of a coin. Couldn’t that apply to just about anything a person does?” van Beek argued.

And of course, again, the gun control skeptics were right: Not one of those measures stopped the suspect from killing at least five people on Saturday and wounding more than 18, several of whom remain in critical condition.

Regarding the ‘red flag’ law, this horrific crime gets worse.

The suspect, Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, was arrested a year ago for making a bomb threat against his mother, but local Democratic prosecutors, of course, dropped the ball and refused to press charges, much less make it known that Aldrich seems like someone the red flag law was tailor-made for.

USA Today noted further:

A man with the same name and age as Aldrich was arrested in 2021 after his mother reported he threatened her with “a homemade bomb, multiple weapons, and ammunition,” according to authorities.

An El Paso County Sheriff’s Office release last year said that officers evacuated a portion of the area and eventually persuaded Aldrich to surrender. No explosive devices were found.

Sources include:

USAToday.com

Breitbart.com

FoxNews.com