The suspect in the deadly attack on a Colorado Springs gay club skirted the state's red-flag gun laws by keeping multiple guns over a year after he allegedly threatened his mother with a homemade bomb.
The suspect in the Colorado Springs Club Q shooting could have avoided red-flag laws.
Under Colorado's red-flag law, judges can issue an "extreme risk protection order" to remove firearms from a person if a petition is brought forward by a family member.
The law has come into the spotlight after local police on Sunday launched an investigation into Anderson Lee Aldrich, the 22-year-old suspect who has been charged with five counts of murder and "bias-motivated" crimes after authorities said he killed five people and injured at least eighteen at the Club
Questions about whether Colorado's red-flag law should have applied to the case of the man who was arrested after his mother said he threatened her with a homemade bomb are being raised.
The Washington Post reported that federal law enforcement officials said that Aldrich shares the same name and age as the man who made a bomb threat in Colorado Springs in 2021.
Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers cautioned against an "assumption that the circumstances of this case would lead to application of the red-flag law."
In El Paso County, which contains Colorado Springs, there is strong opposition to the red-flag law. The red flag law went into effect at the beginning of 2020 and resulted in the county being declared a second amendment preservation county. The Colorado Springs outlet The Gazette reported that county officials argued that the law would violate residents' rights to due process and their right to bear arms. 125 extreme risk protection orders were made in the first year after it was enacted.
Police said Aldrich used a long rifle in the attack. He was stopped after patrons at the club confronted and subdued him. It is not known if Aldrich bought the firearms after the incident. There have been multiple mass shootings in Colorado over the past 10 years, including the 1999 school shooting that left 15 dead and the 2012 movie theater shooting that killed 12. Following the mass shootings in Buffalo, which killed 10, and the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which killed 21, red-flag laws came back into the spotlight. According to a June Morning Consult/Politico poll, a growing number of Independents support stricter gun laws because of the attacks.
A new date. Fourteen states and Washington D.C. have adopted red-flag laws since the deadly shooting at a Florida high school in February.
The attack in Colorado Springs comes almost five months after President Joe Biden signed a bill that strengthened gun control measures. The bill closes a loophole that allows people convicted of domestic violence to keep their guns if they aren't married to their partner. The Senate did not vote on the gun-control bill that was passed by the House.
The Colorado nightclub shooter is accused of murder and hate crimes.
The suspect in the Colorado nightclub shooting used a long rifle before patrons stopped him.
Americans have dropped their support for stricter gun laws.
There are red-flag laws after a shooting.
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