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Gun control activists protest at state Capitol, urge Gov. Polis to ban all guns

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Julio Sandoval, Dana Knowles
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News | Rocky Mountain PBS

DENVER — Erika Maier has a 6-year-old son, and she tears up when talking about something as simple as taking him to school.

“We drop him off at school with a pit in our stomach, memorizing what he’s wearing and praying every day that he’s going to be there when we pick him up,” she said. 

Maier is part of a group of mostly mothers called Here 4 the Kids that started in Denver with an idea: convince Governor Jared Polis to ban all guns and implement a buy-back program.

“We need sweeping legislation to change this epidemic of gun violence in our country and this terror that so many of us are living in every single day,” said Maier, who is also pregnant with her second child. “We don’t feel safe anywhere, not at malls, not at schools, not at festivals in cities, in front of capitol buildings.”

People are dealing with terror in places that should be considered safe, she continued: “We are not free if we are frightened for our lives.”

Colorado Voices

Here 4 the Kids rally in Denver

Here 4 the Kids staged a peaceful protest Monday at the Capitol in Denver. Organizers said more than one thousand people showed, hoping to get the governor’s attention.

Actor and filmmaker Lake Bell was in attendance, offering her support. Bell said she has hope that a national movement like Here 4 the Kids will force lawmakers to listen.

“When we say it’s a national movement, I’d say there’s a national feeling of angst, trauma, PTSD. We’ve almost become numb to it, the idea of hearing about another mass shooting. That in and of itself is haunting,” Bell explained.

The office of Governor Polis, a democrat, issued a statement saying that the governor’s staff met with Here 4 the Kids organizers, and that Polis shares the organization’s goal of trying to reduce gun violence and protect children. However, Polis was clear that banning all guns is not within his power and that Here 4 the Kids’ goal of overriding the Second Amendment requires federal action.

“There are two steps to achieve a federal constitutional amendment,” the governor’s office explained. “First, the amendment must be proposed by either a 2/3 vote in both houses of Congress or at a national constitutional convention called by 2/3 of the states. Second, the amendment must be ratified by approval of ¾ of the state legislators or at ¾ of conventions called by each state.”

Here 4 the kids organizers like Wolf Terry say this has been their exact mission since the beginning; to force change at a both state and federal level. “We are an anti-gun movement. We are here to ask only not just Jared Polis but to all blue democratic governors to ban guns and implement a buyback program,” said Terry.

Dana Knowles is the managing editor at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach her at danaknowles@rmpbs.org.

Julio Sandoval is a senior photojournalist at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach him at juliosandoval@rmpbs.org.

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