In this issue of the digest:

• Invitation to Survivor Training Led by Giffords and Survivor Empowered on September 8

• CFCU is now a Project of the CO Nonprofit Development Center

• National Gun Violence Data Reveal Disturbing Trends

• Bad News/Good News: An Update on Recent Judicial Decisions on Colorado’s Firearms Laws

• Help Reduce Youth Gun Violence by Becoming HIP Volunteer

• Boulder Area CFCU Congregations Were Back at the County Fair

• ERPO Hotline Flyer Now Available

• Guns to Gardens Action Training —New Session Begins September 7

• Local author and gun violence survivor Sandy Phillips Book Event on September 2 at Bookies

• September Calendar

• Our Featured Congregation: Most Precious Blood Catholic Church

Invitation to Survivor Training Led by Giffords and Survivors Empowered in Denver on September 8th

We have been invited to a survivor focused training led by Giffords and Survivors Empowered in Denver on Friday, September 8th. This will be an important training created specifically with the needs of survivors in mind, and Gabby Giffords will be there. 

The training is based on a toolkit (Survivors Toolkit) created by Giffords and Survivors Empowered founded by Sandy and Lonnie Phillips, whose daughter Jessi, was killed in the Aurora Theater Shooting.

RSVP Here:

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8

Training from 9:30am - 4pm

First Baptist Church of Denver,

1373 Grant St, Denver, CO 80203

Reception from 4pm - 6pm (location to be announced)

–

Attendance, meals, and parking are free.

While encouraged, participants are not required to attend the entire session.

Grief counselors and childcare providers will be onsite.

Please share this with any survivors of gun violence that you may know.

CFCU is now a Project of the Colorado Nonprofit Development Center

Following a lengthy process of contemplation and due diligence, the Steering Committee has voted unanimously to move CFCU’s operations under the 501(c)(3) umbrella of the Colorado Nonprofit Development Center (CNDC) and CNDC has officially approved our application! We will soon be signing a Memorandum of Understanding, making the transfer official!

With CNDC as our fiscal sponsor CFCU will apply for grant funding and begin operating more like a traditional nonprofit, taking advantage of the many support services provided to Projects of CNDC. 

National Gun Violence Data Reveal Disturbing Trends

Using data released by the CDC in July 2023, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions found that

• Gun death rates in 2022 remained near highs not seen since the mid-90s.

• Guns remained the leading cause of death for children and teens in 2022, climbing 87% in the last decade (2013-2022).

• Gun violence continues to have a disproportionate impact on Black children and teens.

• The nation’s overall gun suicide rate increased 1.6%, reaching an all-time high.

• For the first time, the gun suicide rate among Black teens surpassed the rate among white teens. 

Preliminary trends in Colorado appear to be the opposite with a slight decrease in suicides and substantial increase in homicides which will be detailed in the next edition of CFCU’s Profile of Gun Violence in Colorado.  The overall trends are quite disturbing and we must continue to fight for comprehensive policy and program solutions to gun violence.

To read the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions report, go to. https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2023/cdc-provisional-data-gun-suicides-reach-all-time-high-in-2022-gun-homicides-down-slightly-from-2021?emci=ad78259b-f440-ee11-a3f1-00224832eb73&emdi=155807fd-ff40-ee11-a3f1-00224832eb73&ceid=7525369

Article contributed by Alana Smart, B’nai Havurah and Stephanie Greenberg, Congregation Bonai Shalom

Bad News/Good News: An Update on Recent Judicial Decisions on Colorado’s Firearms Laws

Let’s start with the bad news.

Having been signed into law in April by Governor Polis, Colorado Senate Bill 23-169 took effect on August 7, making it a misdemeanor for federally licensed firearms dealers to sell a gun to people younger than 21 and for people under 21 to purchase a gun (with exceptions for those in law enforcement or the military). (Federal law prohibits people under 21 from purchasing handguns only.) On the same day, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) along with two individuals between the ages of 18 and 21, brought a suit challenging the constitutionality of this law.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Philip A. Brimmer decided that the plaintiffs had shown a likelihood that they would succeed in their claims and barred the state from enforcing SB 23-169 until the case is decided. The state is asking Judge Brimmer to postpone his preliminary injunction until an appeals court decides on his ruling. Otherwise, the injunction could remain in place until RMGO’s lawsuit is resolved, which could take years.

For more information:

Colorado Ceasefire, August 17, 2023. Colorado Ceasefire

Colorado Politics, August 18, 2023. Colorado Politics

The Colorado Sun, August 15, 2023. Colorado Sun

UPDATE

On August 29, Gov. Polis’s second request to a federal court was denied to overturn Chief U.S. District Court Judge Philip Brimmer’s ruling blocking Colorado’s new law to increase the age to purchase all firearms from 18 to 21. After Judge Brimmer denied Gov. Polis’s request to lift the preliminary injunction, an appeal was filed with the 10 th Circuit Court of Appeals. Two judges on the Court denied the Governor’s request, finding that the Governor hadn’t established that his appeal is likely to succeed, that Colorado is likely to suffer irreparable harm if Brimmer’s law isn’t lifted, and that a reversal of Brimmer’s ruling is in the public’s interest. WE DISSENT.

For more detail: The Colorado Sun, Colorado Sun

Now for the good news.

RMGO is also challenging House Bill 23-1219, signed into law in April, which imposes a three-day waiting period on all Colorado gun purchases. On August 7, Judge Brimmer declined to temporarily halt enforcement of that law, so the law remains in effect until he renders a final decision on the case.

For more information: Colorado Politics, August 18, 2023. Colorado Politics

In another positive development, U.S. District Court Senior Judge William J. Martínez decided on May 8 that a Colorado law banning the possession of guns that lack serial numbers does not violate the Second Amendment. Senate Bill 23-279 – banning “ghost guns” -- was signed into law in June. Shortly after being indicted for possessing a firearm with an “obliterated” serial number, a Denver defendant moved for dismissal of the criminal charge, arguing the law violated his constitutional right to bear arms. Judge Marinez disagreed, noting the Supreme Court has interpreted the Second Amendment as protecting the right to own weapons for the lawful purpose of self-defense. In his opinion, Judge Martinez wrote that “obliterating a firearm’s serial number serves another purpose: making the identity of a person who possesses a particular firearm more difficult to determine. This feature makes firearms with obliterated serial numbers useful for criminal activity.

For more information:

Colorado Politics, August 18, 2023. Colorado Politics

Article Contributed by Stephanie Greenberg, Congregation Bonai Shalom

Help Reduce Youth Gun Violence by Becoming a HIP Volunteer

Gun violence is now the leading cause of death for children and youth in the nation and Colorado, but there is something you can do.  Denver’s HIP (Handgun Intervention Program) kicks off its 8th cohort on Sept. 25.  CFCU volunteers have been involved with this life changing and lifesaving program since its founding in 2021.  HIP helps youth convicted of first time, non-violent firearm offenses chart a new and safer path through education/training, community support and individualized planning as part of their probation.  If they successfully complete HIP and probation, their record is expunged. 

Role of volunteer: As a Community Accountability Board (CAB) member, volunteers meet with youth, their family members and other community volunteers to learn together; build a relationship; and develop a life plan without guns.

Time commitment:  two hours per session for 5 to 6 weeks, generally on Monday nights from 5:00PM – 7:00

Location: First Mennonite Church, 430 W. 9th Ave. Denver, 80204

Contact:  If you enjoy working with youth and a wide range of community volunteers, while helping to reduce the number of guns on the street, contact alanaks@aol.com 

Program Partners: HIP is offered through the partnership of Denver Juvenile Probation, Denver Juvenile Court, Denver District Attorney’s Office, State Public Defenders Office, Colorado Youth Detention Continuum, Denver Youth Violence Prevention Action Table, GRID (Office of Community Violence Solutions), and Colorado Crime Survivors Network Inc.  CFCU is honored to be part of this list.

Article contributed by Alana Smart, B’nai Havurah

Boulder Area CFCU Congregations Were Back at the County Fair

Boulder area CFCU congregations organized their annual booth at the Boulder County Fair in Longmont. Between August 10 th and the 13 th , volunteers handed out 200 free cable gun locks (we were nearly out of them by the end of the second day), and brochures on ERPO, safe storage, suicide prevention, and Boulder Valley Unitarian Universalist’s gun surrender event in October. We plan to be back at the fair next year with a larger supply of free gun locks!

Joanie Nagel and Stephanie Greenberg, both of Congregation Bonai Shalom, setting up the CFCU-sponsored table at the Boulder County Fair.

ERPO Hotline Flyer Now Available

Call 855-999-3776 (ERPO)

Guns to Gardens Action Circle Training September 7 - October 5

CFCU September Calendar

September 7: Guns to Gardens Action Circle Training Begins

September 8: 7 p.m. Blacksmithing demonstration with Mike Martin (evening) Fort Collins, Plymouth Congregational UCC Church 

September 9: 10 a.m.- 12 p.m.Guns to Gardens Fort Collins, Plymouth Congregational UCC Church

September 10 - 16: National Suicide Prevention Week

September 19: 3:30 - 5:00 CFCU Steering Committee

September 20: 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. CFCU Public Health Strategies via ZOOM. For agenda and zoom link contact alanaks@aol.com

September 21: 1 p.m. Communications via Zoom. For zoom link contact raniblack@icloud.com

October 14: Guns to Gardens 12:00-2:00 pm, Lafayette, Boulder Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship 

October 17: 3:30 - 5:00 CFCU Steering Committee

Our Featured Congregation: Most Precious Blood Catholic Church

Volunteers of Guns to Gardens event, photographed in front of Most Precious Blood church entrance on April 15, 2023.

“We, the parish of the Most Precious Blood Catholic Church, are a welcoming Christian community seeking the Kingdom of God and committed to the gospel transformation of ourselves and our world. We do this both by gathering in the word and sacrament, spoken and sung, lifting one another in prayer and by sending one another forth into the world to proclaim God's love and mercy through sacrificial action.”

This mission statement written by members of Most Precious Blood Church, really express why we are working to end gun violence. We both pray and act—seeking the Kingdom of God, by working to end the violence in our world and in ourselves. We act in love and through loving service to others.

Most Precious Blood has been affected by gun violence, particularly since one of its parishioners Ashley Moser, was permanently disabled and her daughter Veronica was killed during the Aurora theater shooting in 2012, but the events at Uvalde were what spurred the formation of a Gun Violence Prevention Ministry at MPB in the summer of 2022. Beginning by inviting anyone who had lost someone to gun violence to share their names for prayer, we quickly formed a work group, joined CFCU and have gotten busy.