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News brief with The Colorado Sun: Stopping gun violence with buyback programs and protests

Protestors gathered on the front steps of the Colorado statehouse. They are holding various signs saying gun control will save children.
Lucas Brady Woods
/
KUNC
Protestors gathered on the front steps of the Colorado statehouse Monday to demand Gov. Jared Polis take executive action to ban guns across the state and implement a gun buyback program. Polis says such an order would be unconstitutional.

Each week, we talk with our colleagues at The Colorado Sun about the stories they’re following. Gun violence is a major topic of the day as a gun control advocacy group stages a sit-in at the Capitol and the faith-based community takes a “swords into plowshares” approach with gun buyback programs.

Tracy Ross is The Colorado Sun’s Rural Economic Development Reporter. She told KUNC a national movement of churches has risen with the common goal of stopping gun violence. Most Precious Blood, a Catholic church in Denver, is a local force in this movement.

Most Precious Blood and other churches are working with organizations like Guns To Gardens and RAWtools to buy back firearms, dismantle them and repurpose the parts for gardening tools.

“From a public health perspective, [the goal] is to get the guns off the street and out of homes before they end up used for violence or self-harm,” Ross said. “It's the whole ‘swords into plowshares’ idea in response to firearm-related deaths in Colorado, which were at least 2.5 times higher in 2022 than they were in 1980.”

In a related story, protestors are demanding that Gov. Jared Polis take executive action on gun control.

The governor has already said what Here 4 The Kids is proposing is unconstitutional. The group is asking Polis to declare a state of emergency due to gun violence, enact a total ban on all guns (including in law enforcement) and establish a mandatory gun buyback program.

“The women are fine with it in a sense,” Ross said, “because even though they know it would be really nearly impossible for what they want to happen, they believe that what they're doing illustrates a depth of feeling of at least them and other advocacy groups so that they're elevating the conversation and getting it out there in this kind of heightened sense.”

As a reporter and host for KUNC, I follow the local stories of the day while also guiding KUNC listeners through NPR's wider-scope coverage. It's an honor and a privilege to help our audience start their day informed and entertained.
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