Gun Discussion Dominates Longmont City Council Meeting

Tuesday’s City Council meeting in Longmont saw guns and oil and gas being discussed. The vote on the fracking agreement between the City of Longmont and TOP operating and CUB Creek Energy came later in the night, but the public testimony was largely dominated by gun issues.

Many speakers referred to the City of Boulder’s recently approved ban on assault weapons as the reason they were prompted to speak, saying they were concerned that such gun control measures could spread east wards.

“Many of the people behind me were at the city council meetings in Boulder and despite us continually laying out the facts behind gun violence and the lack of it in Boulder, we were met with deaf ears and they passed the ordinance unanimously.” —  Lance Cayko.

A pro second amendment rally happened at Hover and Airport in Longmont on Saturday, then on Monday the Libertarian Party of Boulder County had used facebook to urge gun rights activists to converge on Longmont’s city council meeting. And many of them heeded that call with gun enthusiasts dominating much of the public comments. But a few opponents also addressed council including Longmont resident and longtime civil rights activist Strider Benson who carried a sign calling out Ken Buck and Cory Gardner for accepting NRA contributions. “We will not survive if we are ruled by chaos, guns or no guns.”

Mayor Brian Bagley who described himself as a gun enthusiast owning several weapons, did sign a proclamation designation June 2^nd at  National Gun Violence Awareness Day, but reminded those in attendance that this was not an infringement on second amendment rights.

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