April 3, 2014
50 cents Jefferson County, Colorado | Volume 30, Issue 40 A publication of
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Good vibrations
Citizens demand a vote on 38th By Hugh Johnson
Violist Danny Lai performs with the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, March 23 at the Colorado School of Mines Green Center in Golden. Lai won first place in the 2014 Jefferson Symphony International Young Artist Competition and joined the Colorado Symphony this year. Sunday’s performance of his winning piece Bela Bartok’s Concerto for Viola and Orchestra marked his first soloist performance. Lai will move on to play with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Photo by Amy Woodward
Residents fed up with the way city officials are handling the 38th Avenue corridor project spoke up during citizen’s discussion at the March 24 meeting, asking council to bring the issue of the 38th avenue road diet to a vote in November. While the focus was primarily on the road diet, which in 2012 reduced 38th Avenue from five lanes to three lanes, some residents called for a halt on all matters related to 38th until the issue could be brought to the ballot.Critics say the diet has caused an increase in traffic on 38th and during peak hours it’s nigh impossible to merge onto the road or it takes forever to make a simple left turn. “Please do not spend any more money on this project without taking it to a vote of the people. It is our money, and we do need a voice,” Wheat Ridge resident Kathy Tolman said. Wheat Ridge’s Vivian Vos read a survey into the record with nine questions about 38th. According to Vos, 91 percent of the 318 people surveyed lived in Wheat Ridge. Vos said that 54 percent strongly disagreed with the two-lane road diet. She read the answers to the other questions of the survey, indicating that people were in opposition to some of 38th’s amenities and the amount of money council has spent of the project. Some residents claimed the corridor’s
Vote continues on Page 22
Gun legislation lawsuit trial begins Judge’s ruling could impact recently-enacted laws in Colorado By Vic Vela
vvela@coloradocommunitymedia.com Colorado’s new gun laws are “burdensome” and “a symbolic gesture that does not improve public safety,” a lawyer said on the first day of testimony of a trial that takes on the legislation passed in 2013. But a state’s attorney said that the laws do nothing to take away guns from law-abiding citizens and that the motivation behind the legislation is to curb mass shootings like the ones that occurred at Columbine High School and from inside an Aurora movie
theater. “In response to these events, Colorado’s elected representatives made a policy decision to pass two pieces of legislation that appropriately balances the state’s public safety concerns Report with the respect of the Second Amendment rights of citizens,” Deputy Attorney General Matthew Grove said. The lawyers’ arguments opened a twoweek trial over a lawsuit filed against the state and Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper that alleges that two recently enacted gun laws violate gun owners’ Second Amendment right to bear arms. At question are laws that expand back-
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ground checks on gun sales in Colorado and limit the number of rounds that an ammunition magazine can hold to 15. The lawsuit is being brought by gun rights groups and is being heard in a Denver U.S. District Court by Judge Marcia Kreiger. A successful effort by the plaintiffs could put the new laws — which were signed by Hickenlooper last year — in jeopardy. Debate on the bills last year caused highly-charged partisan rancor at the Capitol between Democrats who backed the efforts and Republicans who uniformly voted against them. The bills also led to last year’s recall elections, where three Democratic lawmakers either lost or resigned their seats. The new background checks law expands a previous statute that requires gun shops to conduct a criminal history prior to the sale of any firearm. The updated law expands that to all sales and transfers, regardless of where or how they occur. Plaintiffs’ attorney Richard Westfall argued that the new background checks law is unreasonable and unenforceable. He took particular issue with a part of the law that prohibits the transfer of guns among friends and family members, without having background checks conducted. “There is no justification for such a burden, particularly because this statute doesn’t even work,” Westfall said. Westfall also took on the magazine limit ban, which bans new sales and transfers
of high-capacity ammunition magazines. The law does not apply to existing magazines that may already be in a person’s possession. Westfall argued that the law is unenforceable because “tens of millions of magazines over 15 rounds exist.” He also said the Legislature was “moved by high-profile mass shootings” and that the laws are “a symbolic gesture that do not improve public safety.” “The question is whether the magazine ban will have any positive impact on public safety at any level,” he said. But Grove pushed back against those arguments. He contends that expanding background checks to all potential gun buyers “makes it more difficult for a prohibited person from acquiring firearms.” In defending the new magazine limit, Grove said that restricting the number of rounds that a killer can hold limits the damage that he or she can inflict. “Reloading creates a crucial window of opportunity for a victim to escape or to disarm a gunman,” Grove said. And Grove said that the laws are not aimed at limiting the possession of guns by a law-abiding citizen. “It does not take these items away from people who already own them. It does not restrict their lawful use. It does not limit the choices of firearms Coloradans can carry,” Grove said.