During its regular meeting Tuesday, the Longmont City Council directed staff to craft five gun safety ordinances it will discuss and consider at future meetings.
Longmont Mayor Joan Peck said she directed staff in June to research legal issues of local gun safety ordinances and felt it was time for the city to address the issue.
“Since that motion, we've had an open meeting to discuss the various measures to take and executive sessions on legal aspects,” Peck said. “So we've been watching the legal landscape and I think for me it is time to make some ordinances”
The five ordinances would ban open and concealed carry in sensitive places such as preschools, daycare centers, playgrounds, and toddler swimming pools, raise the purchasing age limit within city limits to 21, require a 10-day waiting period to received possession of a gun purchased within city limits, ban unserialized guns more commonly known as ghost guns, and require signage warning the dangers of guns to children on gun stores.
Some council members voiced their reservations.
Councilwoman Marcia Martin opposed discussing the minimum age limit on gun sales. She believed that should be determined by the state legislature.
“We've got Larimer County on the north and Weld County on the north and east chock-full of gun stores that are not going to constrain themselves in this way,” Martin said. “I don't think that doing it within the Longmont city limits would do anything but complicate the lives of our public safety force.”
Martin also opposed mandatory signage in gun stores. Along with the age purchasing limit, City Councilman Tim Waters joined Martin in opposing the waiting period following the gun sales.
Longmont is the latest city in Boulder County to create gun safety laws. Boulder County, Boulder City, Louisville, and Superior passed similar ordinances this summer. They were all met with legal action from the Loveland-based Rocky Mountain Gun Owners.
Peck wants to avoid a similar response.
“I have had discussions with our legal department twice before deciding on how to word this. The decisions and the cases coming down in the country and the decisions around those are all over the place,” Peck said. “So, I hope that we don't have any lawsuits against it. But, we'll see what happens.”
A date to present and discuss Longmont’s proposed ordinances was not set.
