This issue is personal to me. In 1993, a teenage gunman walked into a children's pizza place near my family's home and killed 4 people. Then, in 1999, I remember being locked down in a classroom while SWAT teams swept my school’s hallways during the Columbine shooting.  Acts of mass violence plague our society and have disproportionately affected Colorado. Something must change.

Coloradans understand the importance of putting measures in place to prevent mass killers from buying military-grade weapons to use on innocent people. Here are the specific policies I support:

• A full assault weapons ban

• Statewide ban on bump stocks

• Raising the legal age to purchase a weapon from 18 to 21

• “Red Flag” (extreme risk protection order) legislation, as five other states have done, which allows a judge to temporarily prohibit someone from possessing or buying firearms while they are deemed a danger to themselves or others based on the recommendation of family or law enforcement.

• I will also introduce a measure that would prohibit ownership of firearms to anyone who has been convicted of domestic violence or animal cruelty, as we have seen this pattern of behavior in many shooters.

I will not allow the second amendment argument enable mass killers to buy military grade weapons.