Hearing to be held on open carry of firearms prohibition

Council as worried about too many signs as too many guns

The Crested Butte Town Council will hold a public hearing March 17 dealing with where to prohibit the open carry of firearms in town. While a blanket prohibition is not allowed under state law, the council may forbid the open carry of guns at specifically designated places owned by the town.

The council will consider an ordinance banning such action at town-owned buildings and town parks. As it stands, that will amount to 27 places listed by the staff. The council may amend that list after the public hearing.
Any space prohibiting open carry must have a sign to that effect. This is what appeared to concern the council the most.
Area resident Mike Rock is a former town and county manager who has worked across Colorado but retired near Crested Butte. “I’ve sat in a lot of council meetings in my career and I’ve never once said that I wished these people had guns because we’d be so much safer,” he said. “I would encourage you to put limitations on open carry in town buildings and parks. I’m a gun owner myself but this makes sense.”
Rock explained that while professional law enforcement officers are trained in how to use weapons, civilians “don’t get it. It’s a fantasy that good people with guns will take out bad people with guns,” he said. “Take the theater shooting in Aurora. If a couple of citizens had guns and it’s dark and noisy and the perpetrator is dressed like a SWAT team member, they’d be shooting at each other and bullets would be flying everywhere. We are a safe community. Guns on someone’s hip are intimidating to most people. We don’t need everyone walking around with guns.”
“I agree with Mr. Rock,” said Councilperson Jim Schmidt. “I’d rather start with a restrictive ordinance and loosen it up if we choose after we hear public comment.”
“If we have to put signs on every building and in every park, what does that say about our town?” asked Councilperson Roland Mason. “It would seem to indicate we have a problem and this isn’t a safe place, when in fact it has never been a problem here at all.”
“The intent of the sign is to inform people and it would give our officers the ability to inform people of that notification if we needed to,” said Chief Marshal Tom Martin. “It could be pretty low-key.”
“I agree with Roland that the cure might be worse than the problem,” said Mayor Aaron Huckstep. “How do we address this in a tasteful way?”
“If you don’t want to allow open carry in, say, Big Mine Park you need a sign,” said Town Attorney John Belkin.
“I disagree with that,” countered Huckstep. “It’s not black and white. It’s grey.”
“I think it is more black and white. That is how the state law reads,” said Belkin.
“I too hate the idea of all these signs all over the place. Maybe we get signs for the parks that say ‘No Glass, No Dogs, No Open Carry of Firearms’ so it doesn’t stick out,” said Schmidt.
“I’m comfortable leaving it up to the town manager to place five or six signs in key places,” said Mason. “Put one up here at town hall and the parks. I don’t see this as a problem.”
“I think we just need one at town hall and if there’s an issue the marshals can address it at other places in town,” said Huckstep.
“I understand there is a place for rules but making gun-free zones everywhere is a different story,” said former councilperson John Wirsing. “Gun-free zones are where people go to shoot people. People with guns aren’t a bad thing.”
The council will give the public another opportunity to weigh in on March 17 before deciding where to place signs prohibiting the open carry of firearms in Crested Butte.