No warning on this one - it just showed up today.
Aurora is on the outskirts of Denver, so the infection is spreading.
Aurora weighs ban on home firearms sales
By Mike Patty
Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
AURORA — Aurora officials are considering prohibiting the sale of firearms from homes.
The City Council's Code Enforcement and Redevelopment Committee will meet this morning to consider the zoning change, said Nancy Sheffield, director of Neighborhood Services. At the hearing, which is open to the public, the three-member committee will decide whether to forward the proposal to the entire City Council.
"We felt this should be brought to the policy committee because it doesn't seem to be a use that is compatible with a residential area," Sheffield said. "Now, such a use is allowed as home occupation as long as the resident had a federal firearms license and an Aurora business license."
Sheffield said the issue came up after a recent news article on firearms dealers operating their businesses out of homes and other "unexpected commercial locations," such as a car wash, print shop and law office. Sheffield didn't know how many residential dealers there are in Aurora, but the article said there were about a dozen.
Aimee Rathburn, executive director of the Colorado State Shooting Association, the state affiliate of the National Rifle Association, said she isn't aware of any other Colorado cities with such ordinances.
"Does Aurora ban any other businesses out of residences?" Rathburn ask. "It's not like a foundry or a smelter or a trash dump. It's not like they are selling crack cocaine.
They are operating legal businesses and these dealers have a right to earn a living."
Rathburn said there are now about 1,500 federally licensed firearm dealers in Colorado, a number which has dropped by about 75 percent in the past few years. "It sounds to me like this proposal is more a case of creeping gun control than an effort to address a particular problem," she said.
Sam Mamet, associate director of the Colorado Municipal League, said he, too, is not aware of any specific bans on firearm sales out of a home. But some cities may effectively ban such sales through zoning codes regarding home occupation, he said.
Sheffield said that in Aurora, the code prohibits a health clinic, hospital, barber shop, beauty parlor, tea room or animal hospital from operating out of a home. The proposal would add firearm sales to that list.
She said city attorneys don't believe banning the residential sale of firearms would violate the Second Amendment; such a ban would not apply to a private nonlicensed individual selling a personal firearm.
The policy committee meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the eighth floor executive conference room of the Aurora Municipal Building, 1470 S. Havana St.
© Copyright, Denver Publishing Co.
Aurora is on the outskirts of Denver, so the infection is spreading.
Aurora weighs ban on home firearms sales
By Mike Patty
Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
AURORA — Aurora officials are considering prohibiting the sale of firearms from homes.
The City Council's Code Enforcement and Redevelopment Committee will meet this morning to consider the zoning change, said Nancy Sheffield, director of Neighborhood Services. At the hearing, which is open to the public, the three-member committee will decide whether to forward the proposal to the entire City Council.
"We felt this should be brought to the policy committee because it doesn't seem to be a use that is compatible with a residential area," Sheffield said. "Now, such a use is allowed as home occupation as long as the resident had a federal firearms license and an Aurora business license."
Sheffield said the issue came up after a recent news article on firearms dealers operating their businesses out of homes and other "unexpected commercial locations," such as a car wash, print shop and law office. Sheffield didn't know how many residential dealers there are in Aurora, but the article said there were about a dozen.
Aimee Rathburn, executive director of the Colorado State Shooting Association, the state affiliate of the National Rifle Association, said she isn't aware of any other Colorado cities with such ordinances.
"Does Aurora ban any other businesses out of residences?" Rathburn ask. "It's not like a foundry or a smelter or a trash dump. It's not like they are selling crack cocaine.
They are operating legal businesses and these dealers have a right to earn a living."
Rathburn said there are now about 1,500 federally licensed firearm dealers in Colorado, a number which has dropped by about 75 percent in the past few years. "It sounds to me like this proposal is more a case of creeping gun control than an effort to address a particular problem," she said.
Sam Mamet, associate director of the Colorado Municipal League, said he, too, is not aware of any specific bans on firearm sales out of a home. But some cities may effectively ban such sales through zoning codes regarding home occupation, he said.
Sheffield said that in Aurora, the code prohibits a health clinic, hospital, barber shop, beauty parlor, tea room or animal hospital from operating out of a home. The proposal would add firearm sales to that list.
She said city attorneys don't believe banning the residential sale of firearms would violate the Second Amendment; such a ban would not apply to a private nonlicensed individual selling a personal firearm.
The policy committee meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the eighth floor executive conference room of the Aurora Municipal Building, 1470 S. Havana St.
© Copyright, Denver Publishing Co.