Denver City Hall needs all the help it can get in fighting our epic crime wave. And according to police records, 10,792 Denverites stand ready to lend a hand. In fact, they’re already doing so.

They are the trained, background-checked, fingerprinted, law-abiding locals who hold permits to carry a concealed weapon. While the need for self-defense by armed citizens is still relatively rare in the Denver area, discreetly stowing a firearm in a handbag or fanny pack while walking your dog through a neighborhood park can be a hedge against the city’s mounting violence.

So, you’d think our elected leaders would appreciate the extra backup. Instead, the Denver City Council is moving to bar these exemplary Denver residents from protecting themselves and the rest of us in city buildings and on other city property – including even in parks.

Mind you, it’s already illegal to carry a concealed weapon on city property. What the council is considering is a proposal by the City Attorney’s Office to prohibit concealed carry even by those who have taken the steps to qualify for permits. A council committee gave the proposal a preliminary nod this week and forwarded it to the full council for consideration.

Statewide, some 400,000 to 500,000 Coloradans have concealed-weapons permits, according to one estimate by the Colorado Municipal League. Under a state law in effect for over two decades, counties must grant the permits to citizens who meet the additional criteria, including passing a background check and training in handling firearms. The policy is a nationally acclaimed success. Permit holders virtually never commit crimes, and revocations are rare.

So, what prompted the new proposal? It sure wasn’t because concealed-carry permit holders were causing problems in parks or on other public property. The City Attorney’s Office admits it never bothered to find out if there ever has been even one such incident.

No, the city wants to encroach further on its residents’ ability to defend themselves – because now it can. Last year, our gun control-obsessed legislature passed a law letting local governments curb the right to concealed carry in designated areas. So, City Hall aims to do just that.

“…Denver is free to finally pursue that change that for years we’ve wanted to return to,” Assistant City Attorney Erica Rogers told council members on the Safety, Housing, Education and Homelessness Committee. “When guns are carried in public places, even when it’s carried by a law-abiding citizen, it creates a safety risk.” Council President Stacie Gilmore was on the same page: “I don’t think it’s necessary nor appropriate for members of the public, city employees, anybody, to have a concealed weapon in a city facility.”

Even, apparently, if it could save someone’s life.

Ironically, the legislature passed another law last year that makes it almost impossible to charge convicted felons with felony possession of a firearm on a subsequent offense. Which means bad guys get to prowl our streets with guns – while decent Denverites who try to defend themselves face up to a $50 fine and up to a $999 fine and 300 days in jail for a subsequent offense.

Denver Gazette editorial board