Colorado Gov. Jared Polis says lawmakers need to 'walk and chew gum at the same time' to address mass shootings after Club Q shooting
- Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said lawmakers need to consider a variety of measures to prevent mass shootings.
- The suspected Club Q shooter should have triggered Colorado's red flag law, Polis said.
Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said government leaders need to figure out how to "walk and chew gum at the same time" on gun policies to prevent more mass shootings.
"I think what you really need to do if you're serious about reducing these kinds of gun violence events and mass violence events is try to take the best ideas from all sides that work. Of course, it's about mental health. Of course, it's about gun policy. Of course, it's about anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. It's about all these things," Polis said on "Meet the Press" on NBC News on Sunday.
"We need to, as a society, as political leaders, walk and chew gum at the same time. We need to look at all the evidence and the facts and try to make decisions that lead to a safer country," Polis added.
The Club Q shooting left five people dead in Colorado Springs at the hands of a 22-year-old suspected gunman who had previously threatened his mother with a homemade bomb in 2021, per The Associated Press. Officers of the El Paso County Sheriff's Office refused to utilize the red flag law that allows law enforcement or family members to ask a judge to temporarily seize a person's firearms if they are a serious risk to themselves or others, Insider previously reported.
"This looks like this would have been a good instance for the use of Colorado's new Red Flag Law, which has been used several hundred times, but could have been used even more to prevent these kinds of tragic events or more often to prevent self-harm or suicide," Polis said on Sunday, adding that state officials would "take a hard look at why Red Flag Law wasn't used in this case."
Polis added: "We need to make sure that that's more available and easier when somebody's an immediate threat. And there were signs in this troubled person's past that he would have been the threat. It could have instigated our Red Flag Law to remove him from having custody over his weapons while he's experiencing that mental health crisis. So those kinds of tools are data-driven. They work. And they can reduce suicide. And from time to time, they can even reduce the likelihood of these kinds of horrific events."