Welcome to the newest members of our Steering Committee: Bill Binet, Rev. Mollie Landers Hart, and Mary Svoboda

In this issue of the digest:

• Lobby Day at the Capitol

• Welcome New CFCU Steering Committee Members

• Update on Bills in the Legislature

• CFCU Advocacy Team Member Pauline Nunez’s “Letter to the Editor” appears in Denver Post

• A New Cohort of HIP begins March 11

• Bill Binet’s Letter to HIP Coordinator

• Guns to Gardens Events and Training Registration

• CFCU Calendar for March and beyond

2024 Gun Violence Prevention Lobby Day at the Capital

This year’s Lobby Day was held on February 22nd at Central Presbyterian Church, within a few blocks of the Capitol. The event was co-sponsored by Colorado Ceasefire, CFCU, Blue Rising, Brady United Against Gun Violence, Everytown for Gun Safety, and Giffords. With over 100 attendees, Lobby Day 2024 was a great way to connect with other gun violence prevention advocates while learning about advocacy.

At the close of the event, Senator Fields was awarded a special honor and plaque from the Gun Violence Prevention Community for her many years of service. She is term-limited and will be leaving the Legislature at the end of her current term after 14 years in the House and Senate. Senator Fields has been a tireless advocate for gun violence prevention and is a gun violence survivor following the firearm deaths of her son Javad and his fiancée Vivian in 2005. The award was presented by Ceasefire Board Member, Tom Mauser, also a gun violence survivor, whose son Daniel was killed at the Columbine High School mass shooting in 1999.

Afterward, a number of attendees put training into action by walking over to the Capitol to meet with their elected representatives in the House and Senate and asking for their support for this session’s gun violence prevention bills. Lobby Day volunteers were on hand at the Capitol to provide assistance if needed.

Photos above: Upper left: Stephanie Greenberg (CFCU) reviews the Profile of Gun Violence in Colorado, 2023. Upper right: Lydia Waligorski, Anne McGihon, and Eileen McCarron (all from Colorado Ceasefire).

Welcome New CFCU Steering Committee Members!

Bill Binet is a member of Most Precious Blood Catholic Parish and has been married to Maggie for 49 years. He is is Marine Infantry Officer and a business owner of 48 years. Bill volunteers with HIP and Guns to Gardens. He is a mentor for Veteran Street Court.

Rev. Mollie Landers Hatt serves as Associate Pastor at Lakewood United Church of Christ in Lakewood CO. She's committed to reducing gun violence as part of her faith's understanding of human flourishing for all, and being a mother to two young children.

Mary Svoboda is a “Friend of CFCU” and a military veteran of the Army. She says “I am not anti-gun, I am pro responsibility.” During the last year she has lead an effort which distributed over 800 gun-locks.

Update on Legislative Bills

The 2024 legislative session has been an unusually busy one for gun-related bills. The good news is that so far, there haven’t been ANY put forward by gun advocates. Here is a summary of the status of bills that the Advocacy Team has been or may be advocating for:

SB24-003 (Sen. Sullivan, Rep. Froelich) Grants Colorado Bureau of Investigations authority to investigate firearm crimes. Passed Senate Business Labor and Technology Committee; sent to Senate Finance Committee.

SB24-066 (Sen. Sullivan, Rep. Froelich) Requires a merchant category code be established for Colorado firearms retailers to better enable law enforcement to track suspicious patterns of firearms and ammunitions purchases. Passed full Senate, introduced in House, and assigned to House Business Affairs and Labor Committee.

SB24-131 (Sens. Jaquez Lewis and Kolker, Reps. Brown and Lindsay) Extends existing Colorado law specifying places where firearms may not be carried either openly or concealed to include other sensitive places (e.g., day care centers, parks, hospitals, mental health centers, bars, public protests). Will be heard in Senate Judiciary Committee on March 13.

HB24-1122 (Reps. Duran and Pugliese, Sens. Winter and Roberts) A broad bill addressing court processes for temporary protection orders related to domestic violence. Prohibits purchase or possession of firearms and ammunition during period of temporary protection order. Passed House Judiciary Committee unanimously. Introduced in Senate and will be heard by Senate Judiciary Committee on March 18th .

HB24-1162 (Reps. Snyder and Armagost) Exempts theft of firearms from current sentencing structure and makes theft of a firearm a class 6 felony, regardless of its value (unless under $1,000 in value [amendment]). House Judiciary Committee voted it down due in part to equity concerns for minority communities.

HB24-1174 (Reps. Duran and Snyder, Sen. Mullica) Establishes minimum standards for concealed carry permit classes (e.g., live fire training, gun safety, conflict resolution). Passed House Judiciary Committee; will be heard by House Finance Committee on March 4th.

HB24-1270 (Reps. Woodrow and Jodeh, Sen. Hansen) Would require firearm owners to maintain liability insurance and require insurance companies to offer this insurance. Has exemptions. Assigned to House Business Affairs and Labor Committee.

HB24-1292 (Reps. Epps and Hernandez) Would prohibit manufacture, import, sale, and purchase of assault weapons and possession of rapid-fire trigger activators. Assigned to House Judiciary Committee.

HB24-1310 (Reps. Parenti and Hamrick) Would establish training and other requirements for school safety officers and establish requirements for guns stored in schools. Will be heard in House Education Committee on March 14th . The Advocacy Team has some concerns about this bill and will wait until after the committee hearing to make a final decision on whether to take action in support of it.

CFCU Member Pauline Nuñez “Letter to the Editor” appears in Denver Post

The following Letter to the Editor was published in the February 16 edition of the Denver Post.

Guns and domestic violence: Why Latinx/Latinos should care

On Saturday we attended the Chicano Humanities and Arts Council (CHAC) Valentine fundraiser. The light, celebratory tone immediately changed when we remembered the loss of Lucille Ruibal Rivera, mother, daughter, godmother, health care leader, activist, Chicana artist, and CHAC Board member. Sadly, she became another domestic violence statistic as the victim in a murder-suicide at the hands of her boyfriend in Northglenn on Nov. 18, 2023.

Domestic violence and gun violence are deeply interconnected, impacting millions of women, families, and communities across the United States. Two-thirds of women killed by an intimate partner are killed with a gun, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.

There is hope. House Bill 1122, Protection Orders for Victims of Crimes is being considered in the state House. This is a complicated bill largely dealing with court procedures for temporary protection orders in cases involving domestic violence.

Colorado Ceasefire and other gun violence prevention organizations strongly support a provision that requires a respondent to refrain from possessing or purchasing a firearm for the duration of the protection order and also relinquish all such items in their possession or control.

Lucille’s passing reminds us that as a Latino community, we must join with gun-violence prevention organizations that are on the front lines. Do we need to be reminded that gun violence is an issue for us? Lucille was a mother, activist and fighter for our community. Let us not let her down.

Pauline Nuñez, Lakewood

Olivia Garcia, Arvada

Editor’s note: Nuñez is an Advocacy Committee member for Colorado Faith Communities United to End Gun Violence. Garcia is a domestic violence policy advocate.

Denver Post, Opinion, February 16, 2024

Pauline is a member of Lakewood United Church of Christ.

You, too, can write a letter to the editor to speak out about the issue of gun violence. If you would like some guidelines, try this resource from the University of Kansas Community Tool Box: How to Write a Letter to the Editor

HIP begins a new Session

CFCU is a recognized program partner of Denver’s HIP (Handgun Intervention Program). HIP will begin its 9th cohort on March 11 working with young people, turning their lives around following first-time, non-violent firearm offenses.  This innovative program has an over 80% success rate.  

CFCU volunteers have assisted HIP since its founding in 2021. Volunteers meet with the youth, their family and other community volunteers to develop a life changing plan to move forward. If they complete the program successfully, their felony charge is expunged.

The program is seven weeks in length and sessions include dinner and presentations on a wide range of life skill topics, including a new module from the Conflict Center. The program takes place at First Mennonite church, a CFCU member congregation (430 W. 9th Ave. Denver, CO 80204) Monday nights from 5 – 7 p.m.

The upcoming session begins on March 11 through May 6 (including 2 Monday breaks)

To learn more about this program, see the HIP brochure below.  If you’re interested in volunteering for HIP or have questions for the program coordinator, contact alanaks@aol.com

More Information about Volunteering for Hip

Letter from HIP Volunteer Applauds the Program

Dear Miss Deborah, 

Maggie and I want you to know how much we appreciate you and what you do for the people in our city.  The celebration Monday night meant much to us.  The room was filled with givers.  That gathering of givers begs the questions:  What is the gift? and Who are the recipients?

Imagine you are thirteen years old, recently apprehended, painted with fluorescent felony that everyone sees.  Suddenly your life is filled with adults, who use words like ‘incarceration,’ ‘felony firearm possession,’ ‘Montview,’ ‘penalty, punishment’.  It looks like there is no hope. You might have been kicked out of school.   Even to a gang member it is scary.  Someone tells you that you will never be able to get a loan to start a business, to join a union to become a welder, plumber or electrician.  It will be almost impossible for you to support a family, should you have them.  Your American dream is impossible. 

Then a probation officer, maybe Alejandro, says, "You were caught with a firearm, but you did not harm anyone.  There might be a way, if you and your family are willing to work hard for a few weeks, to keep you out of jail and erase your felony conviction, to start you out in life as a free person.  If you listen and learn from those serious adults who sit around the table at HIP meetings with you, who ask you too many times what do you want to do with your life, what are your dreams and goals, you might learn how to envision your dream and have hope that your American dream is possible.  From the presenters, you can learn the know how of survival and the know how of making your family proud of you.  You will be free to eventually apply for a loan for a home or to start a business. The gifts are the freedom from felony paint and the awakening to what you can do with your life." 

Who are the recipients?  Our clients, for sure.  How about grandmothers and grandfathers, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, coaches, team mates, friends, classmates, fellow workers and people whom you don't even know yet, who would have been put off by the felony paint were it still there?  

So many people are positively impacted by the HIP program you are creating and nurturing.  We CAB's might benefit the most.  I am inspired every time I hear Miss Sharletta Evans tell how she adopted the killer of her son.  She took the impossible in her grasp and squeezed it with the help of her Lord to make it possible.   

Thank you. Maggie and Bill Binet

National Guns To Gardens Action Circle Sign up

To register for the 5 week training, use this link: Registration for Guns to Gardens Action Circles. If you have any questions you may Contact Rita Niblack (raniblack@icloud.com)

The Guns to Gardens event at Denver Community Church on February 24 destroyed 39 firearms! In the photo above you can see a volunteer, using a chop saw to begin the process of turning a firearm into a life-giving garden tool. (Forging the gun parts takes place later.). Below is a photo of artwork made from gun parts and displayed at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center in a recent show “Another Way is Possible.”

Your congregation’s yearly member dues help us in our mission!

You can pay your CFCU Congregation Member Dues here:

CFCU March Calendar

• Tuesday, March 19: 12:30 am - 2:00 p.m. CFCU Steering Committee on Zoom

• Wednesday, March 20: 11 a.m - 12:30 p.m. Public Health Strategies Meeting on Zoom, contact Alana Smart (alanaks@aol.com) for more information

• March 21: 10 - 11:00 a.m. Communications Meeting, zoom. Please contact Daryl Foelske (dfoelske@gmail.com) for more information

• April 2nd, 2:00 PM. Advocacy Team Meeting. For the zoom link and agenda, please contact Stephanie Greenberg, researchswgreenberg@gmail.com

• April 13 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Guns to Gardens at Most Precious Blood Catholic Church, 2200 S. Harrison Ave.