• Majority of Colorado sheriffs file suit against new gun laws

    By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Sheriffs in Colorado filed a federal lawsuit Friday ahead of the implementation of new state gun laws that broaden background checks and limit the size of ammunition magazines, saying that the bills would be nearly impossible to enforce.

    The laws "severely restrict citizens' rights to own, use, manufacture, sell, or transfer firearms and firearms accessories," the sheriffs said in their complaint in the U.S. district court.

    "This is a bipartisan effort," said Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith. "These are Democratic sheriffs and Republican sheriffs who came together."

    The National Shooting Sports Foundation, magazine-maker Magpul Industries, and the Colorado State Shooting Association were among other groups that filed suit alongside sheriffs against the laws, which are set to take effect June 1.

    Scarred by some of the deadliest incidents of gun violence in American history, including last year's Aurora movie theater shooting and the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, the state's gun control bills gained national attention as various states and the federal government debated new gun restrictions.

    The sheriffs said in the filing that their ability to enforce the laws, particularly the ban on magazines that hold more than 15 rounds, will be constrained by other concerns.

    "The Sheriffs have limited resources and limited public funds to spend on investigations," they said in the court documents. "They cannot expend those resources to conduct investigations that would be necessary to monitor compliance with the new magazine restrictions. No documentation has ever been required for the retail or private purchase of magazines, making it a practical impossibility for the Sheriffs to determine whether one of the many magazines already in existence was obtained after the effective date."

    The sheriffs also said that Coloradans would find it difficult to comply with expanded background check regulations that would require transfers between individuals to be conducted through a federally licensed firearms dealer. That's because many licensed firearms dealers in the state "are unwilling to conduct the transfer under such conditions," they argued.

    Colorado Attorney General John Suthers released a statement on Friday saying that his office would pursue court rulings on the gun legislation “as expeditiously as possible.”

    “Colorado citizens, and law-abiding gun owners in particular, deserve such clarification,” Suthers said in the statement.


    The state has 64 sheriffs, said Chris Olson, executive director of the County Sheriffs of Colorado. The lawsuit is being brought forth “by individual sheriffs” and his organization is not a party to the suit, he said.

    At least one lawman has said that deciding which laws are constitutional should stay out of the hands of Colorado’s sheriffs.

    Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson, whose county includes the Aurora movie theater where 12 people were killed last year, released a statement in January pushing back against sheriffs who said they would not enforce new gun laws.

    “Public safety professionals serving in the executive branch do not have the constitutional authority, responsibility, and in most case, the credentials to determine the constitutionality of any issue,” Robinson said in the statement. “Law enforcement officials should leave it to the courts to decide whether a law is constitutional or not.”

    Robinson identified himself as a supporter of Second Amendment rights in the statement, and said he would like to see better mental health services and stricter penalties for people who commit gun crimes.

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  • Swarming police response in mall shooting highlights 'paradigm shift' since Columbine

    Steve Dipaola / Reuters

    Police move with an armored vehicle at the Clackamas Town Center shopping mall near Portland, Ore., on Tuesday. The sheriff says officers arrived at the shooting scene about a minute after the initial 911 call.

    By Elizabeth Chuck and James Eng, NBC News

    A gunman wielding a stolen semi-automatic rifle and several fully loaded magazines opens fire inside a shopping mall teeming with as many as 10,000 people. Yet, only two people are killed and one wounded. Sheer luck, or were authorities and mall officials well-prepared?


    Probably a bit of both, say law enforcement and security experts, some of whom credit new police tactics and better security training at schools and public venues for helping to minimize the casualties at the Clackamas Town Center near Portland, Ore.

    "I want to say that we were … well-prepared for this incident because we had practice in active shooter techniques at the Clackamas Town Center this past year for this type of situation," Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts said at a news conference Wednesday.

    It's not known what prompted the Tuesday afternoon attack. The sheriff said only that the shooter, identified as Jacob Tyler Roberts, 22, of Portland, appeared to be on "a mission" to kill.

    But he added that the first officers arrived about one minute after the first 911 calls and immediately separated into teams to head into the mall.

    Mall gunman: Personal setbacks, friends' disbelief

    Jacob Tyler Roberts is suspected of killing two people at an Oregon shopping mall. NBC's Jay Gray reports.

    "Law enforcement has learned from past tragedies throughout this country that we can't wait for SWAT teams, and teams need to deploy immediately," Roberts said. "So we trained and equipped each of our individual officers to form up in teams as they arrive and move immediately into engaging the threat, wherever it might be."

    That's a tactic that many law enforcement agencies began instituting in the aftermath of the April 1999 massacre at Columbine High School, where two young gunmen, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, shot to death 12 students and a teacher and injured 21 others before killing themselves.

    At Columbine, law enforcement followed traditional tactics of surrounding the building and waiting for more heavily armed units to arrive. Crucial minutes ticked away, during which Harris and Klebold killed and wounded more people.  

    Many agencies now train their officers to go after an "active shooter" immediately rather than wait for tactical squads.

    That rapid-deployment response is exactly what happened in the mass shooting at an Aurora, Colo., theater on July 12 that left a dozen people dead. Aurora police got the first call at 12:39 a.m. Seven minutes later, suspect James Eagan Holmes was arrested.

    "Ever since Columbine, there's been a paradigm shift," said Mark Lomax, executive director of the National Tactical Officers Association. "In the past, it was the standard protocol if there was a shooting incident or a barricade suspect or a hostage situation, the first responder would secure and contain the crime situation until the SWAT team or negotiators or bomb techs would arrive."

    Girl, 15, shot in Ore. mall cheats death twice

    School shootings highlighted a need to teach first responders to handle situations before those specialized units' arrival, Lomax said.

    "It takes a while for a fully equipped SWAT team or hostage negotiation team to get to the scene. We've realized over many sad incidents that time is of the essence when it comes to saving lives and that those first responders should be fully knowledgeable with how to handle those situations. They won't be the experts, but they need to have enough training and equipment to do exactly what they did in Portland," he said.

    Sgt. A.J. DeAndrea of the Arvada (Colo.) Police Department, who was among the elite team members who searched Columbine High the day of the shooting, says the tactic of going after shooters immediately has helped save lives. He told The Denver Post the first SWAT team didn't even enter Columbine until 38 minutes after the first call.

    "There are times when you cannot wait. It's an inherently risky job. Our job is to go in and protect innocent lives," he told The Denver Post in an interview earlier this year. 

    The Clackamas Town Center mall general manager Dennis Curtis says the mall had an emergency plan in place and regularly holds emergency drills. Watch entire comments.

    Many malls and other public venues now routinely practice responses to emergencies like the one that unfolded Tuesday in Oregon. Clackamas Town Center has a lockdown procedure in place.

    "Every mall that we own and manage has an emergency response manual and we rehearse for these things all the time. We go through those emergency response plans on a regular basis. We've done drills with the sheriff's office," said the mall's general manager, Dennis Curtis.

    "Basically, in a situation like this it's either stay right where you're at and lock yourself down or get to the nearest exit and get out of the building. I just have to commend all of the retailers and our security staff. They did an amazing job."

    Mall shooting victims: Hospice nurse, entrepreneur

    Sheriff Roberts noted that the gunman's rifle jammed at some point, and that stroke of luck may also have saved some lives. He also said a large number of police officers arrived on the scene very rapidly, curtailing the suspect's ability to move around the mall.

    Lomax said police departments across the country have been training for "active shooter" situations so they, too, can take down a suspect who has a weapon in a public area rather than waiting for backup or a tactical squad.

    "I believe that there are a lot of departments that are being very proactive on this type of training and equipping their patrol officers with automatic weapons and ballistic vests and shields to address these types of things," he said. "It only takes a matter of minutes to do a lot of mayhem out there, and these sheriffs and police chiefs understand that they need a very equipped and trained front line whenever it comes."

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  • Columbine survivor turns to Occupy LA to battle foreclosure

    View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.

    By Robert Kovacik and James Hourani, NBCLosAngeles.com

    Richard Castaldo fought for his life 13 years ago in Colorado when he was shot by two teens at Columbine High School. Now, he is struggling to keep his condominium in Southern California, trying to ward off foreclosure like millions of others.

    Castaldo, who is confined to a wheelchair and has a bullet lodged permanently in his spine, was one of the first students shot on April 20, 1999, when he was 17.

    Five years ago, he came to Los Angeles to attend a sound engineering school with the dream of pursuing a career in music. At the time, the Hollywood condo he bought seemed like a wise investment.

    “I feel kind of stupid, honestly, because I should have known better,” he said. “I kind of bought into the notion that of course the condo was going to go up in value, which, of course, obviously it hasn’t.”

    Castaldo’s story mirrors that of countless homeowners who were hit hard by the housing crisis and fell victim to predatory lending. He was advised to take an interest-only loan to buy an overpriced property.

    Read more from NBCLosAngeles.com

    In February, he fell behind on his mortgage payments. While there were plenty of solicitors who offered to help, the assistance didn’t come without a hefty price.

    “I get mailings every day from somebody, but of course they all want money up front,” Castaldo, now 31, said.

    Inside the foreclosure factory, they're working overtime

    Then, surfing the Internet, he found a group that knows all about eviction: Occupy Los Angeles. Ever since their encampment was evicted from City Hall, they've made it their mission to help homeowners facing foreclosure.

    Occupy Fights Foreclosures says that it aims to “support, educate and empower homeowners at risk to save their homes from fraudulent foreclosure.”

    Foreclosure fallout cost nearby homeowners $2 trillion, report finds

    “I feel like they’re really the only group that doesn't have an ulterior motive,” Castaldo said.

    At one of their meetings, he met a lawyer who is now trying to help him, but he doesn't have much time. Castaldo’s condo is scheduled to be sold at a foreclosure auction in December.

    “It’s nerve racking for sure,” he said. “I’m not bitter in terms of me. I’m bitter that stuff like that in Aurora keeps happening. It doesn’t seem like it’s ever going to change.”

  • Coloradans reliving a sickeningly familiar horror

    Marc Piscotty for NBC News

    Tom Mauser, the father of Columbine High School shooting victim Daniel Mauser, is pictured at his home in Littleton, Colo. Mauser has been an activist for increased gun control in the wake of his own experiences and in light of the Century 16 Movie Theaters shootings at the Aurora Town Center on Friday.

    By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor

    Denver-area residents – especially those who lived through the Columbine shootings near Littleton, Colo. – awoke to Friday's news, unleashed a collective gasp and murmured into their TVs, phones and laptops: “Not Colorado. Not again.”

    In Mile High City coffee shops and on shady neighborhood streets, most gazes were blank and most heads were silently shaking, as we shared a nauseating rush of déjà vu, a mutual boot to the belly.

    Or, in the case of Tom Mauser, who lost his son, Daniel, during the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School, a painful sensation of another sort.

    “Mine was more like a kick to the groin,” Mauser said. “My phone had been ringing since 5 a.m. (with friends seeking to relay the news) but I didn’t answer. At 6:30, another call. Then I turned on the TV. It was unreal to see this once more.”

    “A wave of horror,” said Diane Carman, who covered Columbine for the Denver Post. “Although the incident was very different from Columbine, the impact on the community is similar in that the victims are so random and the crime is so senseless.”

    At a gym near his home in Niwot, Colo., northwest of Denver, Mike Hart noticed, he said, “the scene was weird, like everyone was walking around stunned, staring at the televisions throughout … Not Colorado, not again.”

    Before the movie theater rampage in Aurora early Friday that killed 12 and wounded dozens, the summer of 2012 had already been usually cruel in Colorado after a series of wildfires torched more than 500 homes and killed three people.

    Suspect James Eagan Holmes reportedly never said a word while allegedly shooting 71 people and killing 12 in a sold-out showing for Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises." Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper said it was "the act of a very deranged mind." NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

    “It's one more awful tragedy in what has seemed like an apocalyptic summer,” said Carman, now director of communications for the University of Colorado of Denver School of Public Affairs.

    But it is the terrible echo of Columbine that truly has fueled local feelings that mass murder somehow seems stuck on a surreal loop. In that attack, carried out by two Columbine students, 12 teenagers and one teacher were killed and 21 other people were wounded.

    “The main reaction from me is: what the hell is happening to us?” Mauser said.

    “Haven't we had enough tragedy?” asked Hart.

    Slideshow: Shooting at Batman screening in Aurora, Colo.

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    As many as 12 people were killed and 50 injured at a shooting at the Century 16 movie theatre in Aurora, Colo. early Friday during the showing of the latest Batman movie.

    Launch slideshow

    “Columbine is just etched in everybody’s memory. And nationally, it really became a jumping off point for discussions of violence in America,” Hart said. “Whenever there’s a senseless shooting of innocent people, in the articles written, they always say it’s been nine years, or 10 years or 13 years since the last senseless mass murder – Columbine.”

    In that way, Hart believes, the cinema killings in Aurora won’t make Colorado infamous as a beautiful state where ugly, mass tragedies go down.

    “Unfortunately, I think we may already have a reputation,” said Hart, Chief Operating Officer at Boulder-based Bolder BioTechnology, Inc. 

    After barely escaping a mall shooting last month, aspiring sports reporter Jessica Ghawi did not survive the theater shooting. Her brother spoke to reporters about her remarkable spirit. NBC's Kristen Dahlgren reports.

    “Yes, we’ve had two mass shootings that especially resonated with people. Yes, we are tainted by gun violence. But our rate of gun violence in Colorado is no where near what it is in other states. If people are trying to make us into the Wild West, I think that’s a bad rap,” added Mauser, who today works as the spokesman for Colorado Ceasefire, the only gun control group in Colorado that endorses and supports certain candidates for elected office. He also recently self-published a book about losing his son at Columbine, “Walking in Daniel’s Shoes.”

    “It’s pretty early to draw a conclusion” as to whether the rest of the nation or the world will look at Colorado as an unruly, gun-happy place, Carman said.

    “But let’s face it, Colorado has always been very pro-gun-rights state. And there is an undercurrent of an old frontier mentality here. So I would suspect that people would divide along those kind of lines on this issue,” she added. “Some will still feel that (gun ownership) is a strong tradition and value here. But there are some who will suggest that maybe it’s time to reconsider that.”

    NBC News contributor Bill Briggs and Tom Mauser of Ceasefire Colorado talk with MSNBC's Chris Jansing about how the community will move forward from the shooting in Aurora, and what could be done to keep something like it from happening again.

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