Support the movement to create a safer community

Please vote “yes” in favor of Proposition KK. The proposal seeks to create a state excise tax of 6.5% on sellers and manufacturers of firearms, firearm components and ammunition.

Generated revenue will support grants to programs addressing violence prevention and recovery. Crime victim services, behavioral health programs for youth in crisis, mental health services for veterans who have exhausted their benefits and school safety programs will all benefit.

Federal, state and local funding for mental health-related services prior to COVID was meager, with the expiration of pandemic-related grants, it’s tenuous at best. Therefore, the potential funding stream associated with the passage of Proposition KK will make a significant difference in supporting critical services.

As you consider this proposal, please keep in mind the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2022 findings that firearms are a leading cause of death for children in the U.S. I’m guessing that like me you find this information horrifying, and perhaps, also overwhelming. What to do? Proposition KK alone will not solve the problem, but if it creates a more prudent approach to firearm sales, it will be useful in addressing our current gun violence epidemic.

Excise taxes alone never reduced cigarette sales in the U.S., but along with a robust anti-smoking movement, taxes made a dent. So, please join me and vote “yes” on Proposition KK. Let’s support the movement to create a safer community for our children and for us all.

— Marie Schaffner, Boulder

End the killing of truly magnificent wildlife

Excuse me for asking, but when did the State of Colorado and our fellow Coloradoans grant wildlife hunting licenses to dogs? They may not carry guns, but dogs carry the equivalent: GPS locators on their collars.

When the running pack of dogs stop, their “sportsmen” simply grab their guns, leave their trucks (and beers?) to go shoot one of our magnificently wild mountain lions out of a tree.

They might not even know whether the cat is male or female until the dead cat is on the ground. And if she is a female, she may well have kittens — kittens left to starve in their dens without their mother to feed them.

Our native mountain lions are not the only prey of men killing them for their beautiful coats to sell, or their heads to be cut off and mounted on someone’s wall as pseudo-proof of his “manliness.” These people bait, trap, corner and/or poison our bobcats. Poisoning or trapping means no bullet hole to “ruin” the cat’s coat. All of this for the sale of their heads, coats or body parts to others so they too can make money off our Colorado wildlife.

In defense of their financial needs, these people have mounted an ingenious campaign that says:

• Let the wildlife management experts make science-based decisions. Well, they have. And many support Proposition 127, banning unnecessary trophy hunting of these beautiful animals.

• Hunting mountain lions and bobcats provides an important state source of income for wildlife management. BS. Tourism provides much, much more to our state’s budgetary needs. And the off-chance to photograph a wild cat? Priceless!

Vote “yes” on Prop 127 and end the murdering of our truly magnificent Colorado wildlife.

— Gwen Dooley, Boulder