By Camerron Martin
One’s home is a place where one feels at ease and safe where terrible incidents rarely occur as people can separate themselves from the outside world within their own walls. However, for Colorado State Senator Rhonda Feilds that idea was shattered quite literally.
On Monday, March 13, Sen. Feilds came to the city council meeting located in her community of Aurora, Colo. where she pleaded with local lawmakers to step up and begin cracking down on gun laws. The reason for her visit and her pleas were the results of a drive-by shooting that sent a bullet through her house’s front window which had damaged interior property before coming to its final stop in her living room wall.
Sen. Fields was not home during the time of the shooting so it is unclear when it had taken place as it is also unclear whether the bullet was intended for her home specifically. Aurora police had received reports of a different incident involving a drive-by shooting the same day in a nearby area, therefore it is not certain if a stray round from the separate incident was what had come through Sen. Fields’ property. Both incidents took place last month on Monday, Feb. 20.
The scene in Sen. Fields’ home has since been cleaned up by local law enforcement and they have extracted the bullet from the wall and have taken it in as a piece of evidence in the investigation.
What comes next is what many are thinking about currently as Sen. Fields voiced her concerns at the Aurora City Council meeting. Stating that nobody should feel so unsafe in their own home as she called for gun violence to be dealt with at a smaller local level.
In the state of Colorado, there is an average of twelve guns for every one thousand residents which based on Colorado’s population adds up to a little over sixty-three thousand firearms statewide. However, these numbers only account for registered firearms as individuals own many more without them being tied to their identities. There has been a long-time call to lower the number of unregistered firearms in the state which are backed by even older calls for action in taming gun violence nationwide by changing gun laws in the United States.
Many are well versed in the arguments both for and against the rights granted to American citizens by the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution as some call for its reform while others defend it as it stands. Whether or not Sen. Fields’ pleas will bring about any change remains to be seen and if any should happen it will most likely be centered around Aurora rather than Colorado as a whole, but it could lead to larger change should the matter be brought up to a larger scale.
No matter what a person’s views on gun laws and violence it is no secret that if the issues are handled in a way all parties can agree on would go a long way in allowing people to sleep a little easier at night, especially if they can feel safe enough in their own home.
