Colorado Towns Take Up Controversial Open Carry Votes
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) - It is legal to openly carry a firearm in Colorado unless in a location where it is specifically banned. Now, more municipalities like Louisville and Edgewater have either voted to ban or are taking it up. The controversial topic came up several years ago after a multiple shooting.
In 2015 a call came in to Colorado Springs 911.
Caller: "he still shouldn't be holding that gun."
Dispatch: "It's an open carry state so he can have a weapon with him walking around with it, but having those gas cans does seem suspicious so we are going to keep the call going for that."
Ten minutes later the same woman called back.
"I just called a few minutes ago, and he just came back out and he fired a gun at someone, and he's lying on the ground, dead. Oh my God. Please send an ambulance too."
The man with the open carry shot three people to death before being killed by police. Now towns like Louisville and others are banning the open carrying of firearms.
Mayor Ashley Stolzmann said she's pleased the city council unanimously passed the measure.
"Because if you see someone carrying a weapon around town and displaying it. It's not supposed to be happening."
That, she says, would allow for quicker response time, but if you ask people on the street there is division.
One man visiting said, "It does work in Wyoming. It makes for a polite society."
A Louisville resident expressed concern about open carrying of firearms.
"When I see someone carrying a gun who I don't know, I know nothing about that person."
Denver already has a ban on open carry. Aurora does not.
