Dear Mrs. Levy,
I recently read an article posted by 9News about your intent to introduce legislation that would allow colleges to ban guns on their campus. Coming off of the CO Supreme Court decision to allow Coloradans to exercise their right to lawfully carry a concealed firearm on college campuses I find your behavior to be very short sighted and it further proves your lack of knowledge of the facts. I'm writing you now to hopefully educate you and perhaps to persuade you to cease this legislation before the next session. I understand that many of your constituents in Boulder are opposed to guns, and perhaps you are as well, but need I remind you that the second amendment to our US Constitution guarantees our right to keep and bear arms, just like the first amendment guarantees our right to free speech. To make a comparison, you may not like what someone has to say, but it is their first amendment right to say it, conversely, you may not like guns, but it is a person's right to keep and bear them.
With this legislation, what are you hoping to accomplish? Banning guns from Colleges does only one thing, takes them away from law abiding students who would otherwise be well within their rights to have the means to defend themselves in an unspeakable, and horrible situation. Because I would hope that it is common knowledge that criminals don't really concern themselves with what is and what is not legal. Effectively, the quote "When you outlaw guns only outlaws will have guns" comes to mind in this situation. Furthermore, I must emphasize, around our great state people carry guns legally all the time. I ask you, as a representative of a portion of our population, what is the difference between Colorado University campus, and say the Whole Foods Market just a block south of the campus? They're both populated areas, they're both, as of right now, locations where it is legal to carry a concealed firearm, and they both are within the limits of Boulder. So what is the difference if someone carries there, or on campus? I'll tell you, there isn't any. So because one is a place of higher education you and the bold anti-gun folks of Boulder wish to restrict a person's right to exercise their Constitutionally protected right? I'd like you to look into the facts on this please Mrs. Levy, you'll find that locations with strict gun control legislation (such as Washington D.C., New York City, and Los Angeles) have a higher crime rate than those that have looser gun control laws. Why is this? Because law-abiding citizens rarely, if ever, break the law. When you have a polite, armed, and law-abiding society, criminals will fear that these folks will present a more challenging group of victims than one that is, by law, restricted from carrying the means to defend themselves. I cannot stress enough that your proposal to enact legislation that would restrict our freedoms is just simply flat out wrong, and the Regents at CU are also wrong for wanting to ban guns from their campus. If you do in fact go through with this, I will do my best to persuade my friends, clients, family, and acquaintances to take their education, business, and residence out of Boulder and allow your anti-freedom utopia to operate without those of us who uphold the Constitution, the same constitution I took an oath before my nation and the officers appointed above me to support and defend as a member of our armed forces, the same Constitution you seem to hold in such low regard.
Thank you for your time,
Ryan XXXXXXXX