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Sheriff says he'll undermine gun ban (vote in poll)
The Colorado Springs Gazette ^ | 2010-02-23 | Wayne Laugesen

Posted on 02/24/2010 10:56:29 AM PST by neverdem

The Colorado State University Board of Governors voted unanimously Tuesday to place students at both of its campuses in harm’s way with a sweeping weapons ban law-abiding citizens will obey and criminals will ignore.

Larimer County Sheriff James Alderden, outraged by the ban, told The Gazette’s opinion department he will undermine it in the interest of student safety.

CSU-Fort Collins Police Chief Wendy Rich-Goldsmith, a relative newcomer to the campus, supports the ban.

“I have told the CSU police chief I will not support this in any way,” Sheriff Alderden told The Gazette. “If anyone with one of my permits gets arrested for concealed carry at CSU, I will refuse to book that person into my jail. Furthermore, I will show up at court and testify on that person’s behalf, and I will do whatever I can to discourage a conviction. I will not be a party to this very poor decision.”

Though each CSU campus has its own police department, Alderden issues all cops on the Fort Collins campus a deputy sheriff’s commission card. He also runs the county’s jail, which campus police use after making arrests.

Alderden said ban advocates have been unable to cite a single study or statistic to show that students will be safer as a result of a weapons ban. He’s convinced they will be much less safe as a result of the ban, which will leave most students defenseless. The ban establishes the campuses as “soft targets,” meaning armed criminals will have a reasonable expectation their intended victims aren’t armed.

“There are volumes of statistical and anecdotal data that show populations are safer when law-abiding citizens are permitted to carry concealed weapons,” Alderden said.

Six years after Alderden began issuing permits, he noticed the homicide rate in his jurisdiction had dropped.

At CSU-Fort Collins, the ban includes pepper spray, in quantities greater than an ounce, and Tasers.

“This ban, which is broad and encompassing, basically denies students at the Fort Collins campus any defensive capacity at all,” Alderden said. “It’s a weapons-free zone for law-abiding people, and it won’t do a single thing to keep armed criminals off of campus. It will only ensure them a lot of defenseless victims. The people who did this are lost in their own world of ideological liberalism. You would think people involved in academia would want to deal in data and experience, but this has been all about emotion.”

Alderden said he realized the sentiment against self-defense is based in emotion after speaking with a public school teacher who asked him to stop issuing concealment permits. He showed her data that prove concealed carry reduces crime. He told her concealed carry would help reduce violent crime in Fort Collins and the rest of Larimer County — a sentiment shared by El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa and a growing number of ranking law enforcement officials regarding their own jurisdictions.

“I made the whole case, based in provable facts. The teacher said, and I quote, ‘I don’t care about the facts.’ She only cared about her emotional response,” Alderden said.

(Please vote in poll to the right, in red type. Must vote to see results. Thanks!)

The student Senate of the Fort Collins campus opposed the ban by a 23-1 vote. That means CSU governors, and administrators who pushed for the ban, don’t seem to care what their customers think. The Student Senate at Pueblo approved the ban, only after administrators said “weapons” did not include Tasers or pepper spray.

“God forbid we have something like the tragedy at Virginia Tech at one of these campuses,” Alderden said, referring to a notorious shooting spree in which a lunatic wantonly killed for hours, while a gun ban ensured him no students or faculty would shoot back.

Alderden questions the legality of the ban, saying the legislature never discussed excluding college campuses when it passed a shall-issue concealed-carry law in 2003. The law requires county sheriff's to issue concealment permits to law-abiding residents without felonies, misdemeanor domestic violence records, or other other disqualifying conditions. Furthermore, he said students who ignore the ban won’t have legal problems if they don’t get caught.

“If it’s properly concealed, so that nobody sees the weapon, it probably won’t be a problem,” Alderden said.

In the event a concealed weapon is needed for defense of self or others, it would become evident to law enforcement. In that unlikely event, Alderden said, safety trumps legal concerns.

“They say it’s better to be judged by 12 than carried by six,” Alderden said.

That’s the advice of a lawman with a record of reducing crime. The ban is the work of academic ideologues, who theorize about safety and crime. Hope and pray the academicians don’t find themselves begging forgiveness someday, in the wake of a horrible crime. — Wayne Laugesen, editorial page editor, for the editorial board


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Politics/Elections; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: banglist
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Use this link if you want to vote.
1 posted on 02/24/2010 10:56:29 AM PST by neverdem
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To: george76; jan in Colorado; colorado tanker; coloradan; dljordan; Colorado Buckeye; GraceG; ...
BANG! Sheriff nullification of moonbat foolery, is this too good to be true?
2 posted on 02/24/2010 11:02:01 AM PST by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: neverdem

The county sheriff is the highest legal authority in his county. He can even deny Feds from operating there, I am told.


3 posted on 02/24/2010 11:03:06 AM PST by I Buried My Guns
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To: neverdem

The Sheriff is a good man.

He should now threaten to pull the deputy sheriff commissions for the campus police.

The vote is 88% for ignoring the gun ban with 1188 votes tallied.


4 posted on 02/24/2010 11:04:14 AM PST by exit82 (Democrats are the enemy of freedom. Sarah Palin is our Esther.)
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To: neverdem

Should Colorado State students ignore the new weapons ban, as one sheriff suggests?
Yes, they should ignore the ban 88%

No, they should obey the campus rules 11%

I don’t know 0%

I don’t care 0%

Total Votes: 1170


5 posted on 02/24/2010 11:04:34 AM PST by RedMDer (Recycle Congress in 2010, 2012... Forward with Confidence! Forward!)
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To: neverdem

Should Colorado State students ignore the new weapons ban, as one sheriff suggests?

Yes, they should ignore the ban 88%

No, they should obey the campus rules 11%

I don’t know 0%

I don’t care 0%

Total Votes: 1181


6 posted on 02/24/2010 11:05:37 AM PST by BradtotheBone (Moderate Democrat - A politician whose voting record leans left and whose vote can be bought.)
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To: neverdem

“Furthermore, he said students who ignore the ban won’t have legal problems if they don’t get caught.”

No mixed message there LOL. Whadda bunch of maroons


7 posted on 02/24/2010 11:08:20 AM PST by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: neverdem

Colorado has several sheriffs who understand and agree with most of the intent of the 2nd Amendment.

Kudos to Larimer County Sheriff James Alderden!


8 posted on 02/24/2010 11:09:45 AM PST by Solitar ("My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them." -- Barry Goldwater)
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To: neverdem; dynachrome

89 percent


9 posted on 02/24/2010 11:15:21 AM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: neverdem
...Alderden issues all cops on the Fort Collins campus a deputy sheriff’s commission card...

Simple - harass a law-abiding CCW permit holder and loose your card. (Which I suspect allows CCW)

10 posted on 02/24/2010 11:18:39 AM PST by NY.SS-Bar9 (Bread and Circuses)
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To: I Buried My Guns

I can’t cite chapter and verse, but from early on, I have heard that a county sherrif has an enormous amount of power. Plus they are usually elected positions to keep them from ammasing too much power.


11 posted on 02/24/2010 11:18:40 AM PST by Texas resident (Hunkered Down)
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To: neverdem
a Sheriff that operates by 'common sense' gun laws...whodathunkit...???

if campus carry is recognized by the state as legal, why bother even acknowledgin their 'ban', except of course to tell em to stfu...

yank the commission cards for first offense, on the second, toss the campus mall cop into the county jail for deprivation of Rights...

12 posted on 02/24/2010 11:34:08 AM PST by Gilbo_3 (Gov is not reason; not eloquent; its force.Like fire,a dangerous servant & master. George Washington)
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To: neverdem

Should Colorado State students ignore the new weapons ban, as one sheriff suggests?
Yes, they should ignore the ban
89%
No, they should obey the campus rules
10%
I don’t know
0%
I don’t care
0%
Total Votes: 1346


13 posted on 02/24/2010 11:43:05 AM PST by Gator113 (Obama is America's First FAILED "light skinned African American [Pres-dent] with no Negro dialect..")
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To: neverdem

Hurrah for the county sheriff! Switzerland requires military age males, not dopey females, to keep hand-held machine guns in their homes, and to attend target practice sessions regularly, with state-supplied ammunition. Question for the idiot CSU governors: Is per-capita gun crime higher in Switzerland than in Colorado? Answer: No, it is much lower. Conclusion: Responsible, armed citizens save lives and reduce crime.

The CSU ideologues who simply will not act reasonably, even when people’s lives are at risk, have no business in any positions of authority, much less at public expense. Since they refuse to recognize reality, what on earth are they doing at a university supposedly devoted to reason and truth, and what other great issues, like freedom, are these pathetic leftards bent on distorting? These clowns should impeached and dismissed. That would send a useful message to their criminal-sympathizing comrades.

One thing such crazy fools never consider is that some nut-case who is denied tenure might come through their boardroom door with guns blazing. Then they get to validate their stupidity with their own blood. Far-fetched? Not really. They’ve just given Amy the green light.


14 posted on 02/24/2010 11:56:44 AM PST by Tulsa Jack (Tulsa Jack)
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To: I Buried My Guns

“He can even deny Feds from operating there, I am told.”
If that were the case the feebs would not have been able to investigate and arrest crooked deputies and even the sheriff. They have done so in the past, and I’m sure, will do so in the future.


15 posted on 02/24/2010 11:57:59 AM PST by Scotsman will be Free (11C - Indirect fire, infantry - High angle hell - We will bring you, FIRE)
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To: neverdem

This sheriff is a great American.


16 posted on 02/24/2010 11:58:26 AM PST by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: neverdem

Larimer County Sheriff James Alderden is my new hero!


17 posted on 02/24/2010 1:11:50 PM PST by Monorprise
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To: Monorprise

This is probably anther reason why we need the police to be placed UNDER the authority of the elected Sheriff.

I don’t want unelected bureaucrats enforcing un-constitutional laws without the consent of the local governed.

Larimer County Sheriff James Alderden aut to have the authority to fire the dissident police Chief.

Legislators are NOT empowered by the people to simply make whatever oppressive law they like. This is why we have an elected Sheriff in the first place, one of our last(not our last) practical checks on their unauthorized power.

After the Sheriff there is the judiciary. The clear intent of our system was to protect the rights of the people, as the primary and most pressing of concerns! The “safety of the community” in the judgment of our “leader” has always been one of careful suspicion and caution.

Liberty must be protected with a vigilant eye! For it is better to have no law and rely upon our own self-defensive capability to provide for our security then to be made subjects to an unlimited and otherwise uncontrollable tyrant.

God Bless County Sheriff James Alderden and his patriotism!


18 posted on 02/24/2010 1:28:19 PM PST by Monorprise
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To: Monorprise

This is probably anther reason why we need the police to be placed UNDER the authority of the elected Sheriff.

I don’t want unelected bureaucrats enforcing un-constitutional laws without the consent of the local governed.

Larimer County Sheriff James Alderden aut to have the authority to fire the dissident police Chief.

Legislators are NOT empowered by the people to simply make whatever oppressive law they like. This is why we have an elected Sheriff in the first place, one of our last(not our last) practical checks on their unauthorized power.

After the Sheriff there is the judiciary. The clear intent of our system was to protect the rights of the people, as the primary and most pressing of concerns! The “safety of the community” in the judgment of our “leader” has always been one of careful suspicion and caution.

Liberty must be protected with a vigilant eye! For it is better to have no law and rely upon our own self-defensive capability to provide for our security then to be made subjects to an unlimited and otherwise uncontrollable tyrant.

God Bless County Sheriff James Alderden and his patriotism!


19 posted on 02/24/2010 1:29:18 PM PST by Monorprise
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To: Joe 6-pack

This is probably anther reason why we need the police to be placed UNDER the authority of the elected Sheriff.

I don’t want unelected bureaucrats enforcing un-constitutional laws without the consent of the local governed.

Larimer County Sheriff James Alderden aut to have the authority to fire the dissident police Chief.

Legislators are NOT empowered by the people to simply make whatever oppressive law they like. This is why we have an elected Sheriff in the first place, one of our last(not our last) practical checks on their unauthorized power.

After the Sheriff there is the judiciary. The clear intent of our system was to protect the rights of the people, as the primary and most pressing of concerns! The “safety of the community” in the judgment of our “leader” has always been one of careful suspicion and caution.

Liberty must be protected with a vigilant eye! For it is better to have no law and rely upon our own self-defensive capability to provide for our security then to be made subjects to an unlimited and otherwise uncontrollable tyrant.

God Bless County Sheriff James Alderden and his patriotism!


20 posted on 02/24/2010 1:30:13 PM PST by Monorprise
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