County can’t allow hunting to return to Sugarloaf

Regarding the Feb. 4 Daily Camera story, “Gun control no longer electoral kryptonite,” while lawmakers introduce

“the largest single-year gun reform push in recent history,” the Boulder County Board of Commissioners is being pressured by the hunters of Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) to reverse firearms safety restrictions on United States Forest Service lands (USFS) inside Sugarloaf residential neighborhoods. Previously, hunters on USFS lands here have killed family dogs and even fired off weapons between two groups of elementary school children waiting for the school bus. Finally, at an open public hearing in 2022, the Commissioners voted 3-0 to expand enforcement of the “No Discharge of Firearms” closure to the small pieces of USFS lands inside more of the densely populated subdivisions.

Now, CPW questions whether Boulder County has the legal authority to ban hunting on USFS land. Due to a previous lawsuit — both the county and Sugarloaf residents know that “federal law provides that states and their political subdivisions retain both criminal and civil law enforcement jurisdiction over forest service lands: 16 USC sec 480, and 16 USC sec 551.” It seems clear that Boulder County has the legal authority to close these USFS lands to the discharge of hunters’ firearms. The Commissioners must honor the oath they swear to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people. They cannot allow an intentionally lethal sport back into our neighborhoods. To do otherwise is to be nothing more than a tool of the CPW.

— Anita Moss, Boulder