BELLEVUE, WA – When the Denver City Council agreed to allow an initiative requiring city officials to reduce stress and promote “peacefulness” on the November Ballot, the Citizens Committee for the Right To Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) suggested that a big first step might be for Denver to gracefully accept the state’s sensible new state gun law pre-emption statute.

“Denver’s immediate reaction to the Colorado’s newly-reformed firearms laws was to threaten a lawsuit, with ex-mayor Wellington Webb leading the charge,” noted CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron. “Nothing ratchets up the stress level for law-abiding firearms owners than to see elected officials taking steps to interfere with their civil rights.”

Waldron said the issue of personal protection, which was the catalyst for expansion of the state’s concealed carry provision, was underscored by the double-digit percentage increase in violent crime last year, according to data released by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Faced with that revelation, he said hysteria-driven efforts to prevent Denver residents from enjoying the same gun rights protections as all other Colorado citizens most assuredly contributes to stress among gun owners, who find themselves pushed into making a choice between personal safety and political correctness

“One way the Denver City Council could contribute to stress relief would be to drop its opposition to Colorado’s common sense gun law reform,” Waldron suggested. “A city government that does not trust its citizens can never be a model for community harmony

“The Colorado Springs City Council just banned open carry of firearms at its meetings because of the actions of one man,” he continued. “The Denver Post supported the ban because it claimed, ‘passions often run high at City Council meetings.’ They felt that the presence of a shotgun ‘might be unduly intimidating during heated debates.’ It might also just make people behave themselves a little better

“If we’re going to be considering initiatives and ordinances aimed at decreasing stress and improving everyone’s demeanor,” Waldron concluded, “we might first take a lesson from late author Robert Heinlein, dean of the science fiction writers. He’s the one who reminded us all that ‘An armed society is a polite society.”