Colorado District Attorney in Refuses to Prosecute Flood Victims Under New Gun Laws

NRA-ILA
NRA – ILA

Charlotte, NC –-(Ammoland.com)- Comments by Marion Hammer, United Sportsman of Florida:

“If you know anyone who is misinformed enough to support so-called “universal background checks”, please show them this article. ”

“Thankfully, this District Attorney in Colorado understands the folly of prosecuting law-abiding people.”

“However, if you simply assume that Florida’s State Attorneys would follow Colorado’s lead under a similar scheme, you might want to reconsider.  While some would refuse to prosecute in these situations, unfortunately many Florida State Attorneys are anti-gun and far too quick to go after honest citizens instead of violent criminals.”

Please take a moment to read the below  article:

Colorado DA Refuses to Prosecute Flood Victims for Private Firearm Transfers
Posted on October 4, 2013

Back in February and March, NRA-ILA warned that Colorado’s House Bill 1229, criminalizing the private transfer of firearms, was overbroad, and would unduly burden and ensnare law-abiding citizens. Lo and behold, less than seven months after Gov. Hickenlooper signed HB 1229, some victims of September’s devastating floods are fearful of being prosecuted under the new law.

According to an article published in the Greeley Tribune of Greeley, Colo., residents of Weld County, Colo. contacted Weld District Attorney Ken Buck with concerns that if they were to store their firearms with family or friends while cleaning or rebuilding their flood ravaged homes they could face prosecution for an illegal firearms transfer. While the new statute contains very limited exceptions for things like “bona fide gift[s] between immediate family members,” it does not exempt the temporary transfer of a firearm for safekeeping at someone else’s property.

To assuage the fears of his constituents, in a September 30th press release, Buck announced that he will not prosecute anyone experiencing such hardship. Buck is quoted in the press release as stating, “It would be unconscionable to require those affected by the floodwaters to obtain a background check… And it would be equally unconscionable to prosecute them under these circumstances. This is an example of the consequences of laws that are overbroad and not well thought out and illustrates how such laws can harm residents’ rights.”

On the same date, Buck sent a letter to the police chiefs of Weld County and Weld Sheriff John Cooke, alerting them to his position. The letter makes clear to the law enforcement agencies, “the District Attorney’s Office will not accept for prosecution any allegation that an individual failed to obtain a background check prior to transferring a firearm under these emergency circumstances.” In response, Sheriff Cooke, who has joined with 54 other Sheriffs in a lawsuit challenging Colorado’s new gun laws, told the Greeley Tribune regarding the flood victims, “They want to get (their guns), and they’re going to give them to a friend, and to think that Colorado law just made those people criminals by giving them to a friend without getting a background check victimizes them all over again… It’s just callous and wrong.”

The recent experience in Colorado serves as another example, along with that of New York’s SAFE Act, of the effects of hastily drafted and impulsive legislation that fails to consider the realities faced by the gun owning public. If there is a silver lining to these attacks on gun owners, it is the willingness of local law enforcement, as in Colorado, New York and Illinois, to stand up to their state governments by fighting, or refusing to enforce, unjust and unconstitutional laws, in order to protect the rights of their constituents.

We applaud the words and deeds of District Attorney Buck and Sheriff Cooke, and encourage other law enforcement officials in those areas of Colorado affected by flooding to follow suit in offering their assurance that gun owners facing similar hardship will not face prosecution.

 

About:
Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the “lobbying” arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Visit: www.nra.org

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William Butler

A politician with common sense is a rare and wonderful thing. Thank you to AG Ken Buck.

r waldrop

While I wholeheartedly support 2d amendment rights, the problem this country is having with the firearms issue is the fact that our schools do not teach the constitution as a whole and what it means to America.

Thom Paine

We have been to welcoming to the insurgents of our western states. It is time for that to end! Get out before you get forced out you cultural marxist scum! That is to become the reality.

Drake_Burrwood

All I can say is thank you for setting an example.