By Pueblo Chieftain - 3/11/2013
The root of the state and national debate on gun control is not guns but mental health, a few members of Pueblo's law enforcement community said.
"The real problem is mental illness. They're not addressing the problem," a ranking Pueblo County Sheriff deputy said of the proposed state gun laws.
"It's like anything else, there's a bunch of problems.
In my opinion, they're looking at the wrong cause. Mental illness is what they should be addressing," a ranking Pueblo police officer said.
Officers interviewed preferred to remain anonymous on the issues.
The officers who talked with The Pueblo Chieftain all supported the background bill at varying degrees.
"The only one I agree with is making people pay for their background checks.
If you have a service that you and no one else uses, why should I pay for that?" a patrol officer said.
Another cop said: "I don't think honest people have a problem with that (but) it'll just delay getting them their guns."
The bill that pushed background checks for private gun sales would be hard to enforce, the lawmen said, and it would have little effect on the black market.
"I don't know if they're going to get it passed and even if they do, I don't think they'll get compliance. And if you get to the point of compliance, how are you going to prove it?" the ranking officer asked.
"Gangsters don't go to the store and buy their guns," the patrol officer said.
The lawmen all failed to understand the bill for smaller ammunition clips, which reduces the number of loaded rounds in a gun.
"So you're just telling people to carry more clips," a patrol deputy said.
One cop said he sees that bill backfiring and driving the want for high-capacity clips on the black market.
And none of the lawmen said the bills would make them safer working on the streets or make a difference in gun violence.
"I think it gives a false sense of security," one deputy said of the bills.
The patrol officer said: "Everything (politicians) want to eliminate is cosmetic. These are laws. You should be thinking about things from A to Z before you do a law, but they're not."
"Good people do good things and bad people do bad things," the ranking officer said. ''Everyone is getting on the political bandwagon because of the horrible things that have happened and we're like 'Gun control! Gun control! Gun control!' But the issue is, I think we've lost ourselves fundamentally as a country.''
(c)2013 The Pueblo Chieftain (Pueblo, Colo.) at www.chieftain.com
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