This at a time when Democrats are trying to ban guns from the building and Republicans are fighting it. These same people are demanding teachers and staff be armed in schools. But the same thing happened there. A teacher used the bathroom, left his gun there, and it was found by a 12 year old boy. Luckily the boy had been taught well and did not touch it but went to get a teacher. Think how badly it could have gone. I carried a gun for a living. I was well trained. While I never forgot my weapon, I know many others that did. You go into to a stall, take your weapons belt off. When done you get dressed and if you get distracted or something you walk out leaving it there. Guns don’t make people safer. Hugs. Scottie
The firearm belonged to Rep. Don Wilson. The incident comes as Democrats are trying to ban guns at the Capitol — and Republicans are fighting them.
The Colorado House of Representatives convenes on the first day of Colorado’s 2024 legislative session Jan. 10, 2024, at the Colorado Capitol. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)]
A Republican state representative left a loaded, semiautomatic handgun in a bathroom at the Colorado Capitol on Tuesday night, an incident that comes as Democrats are trying to ban firearm possession in the building — and the GOP is fighting them.
The Colorado State Patrol, which provides security at the Capitol, said Thursday that the gun, a 9mm Glock, was left on a shelf inside a single occupancy, unisex restroom. It was found by a janitor at about 9:30 p.m.
“I want to be clear that I take full and complete accountability for the incident,” he said in a written statement Thursday. “I made a mistake and am very sorry. … I take firearm safety very seriously. This is a humbling experience and I will reaffirm my commitment to responsible handling procedures.”
The State Patrol said troopers reviewed surveillance video in the building that showed Wilson exiting the restroom at 8:58 p.m. “indicating the firearm was unattended for 23 minutes before being discovered by the janitorial staff.”
The Capitol was closed to the public at 7 p.m. Tuesday, though the House Judiciary Committee was meeting until about 9 p.m. that night. That means members of the public may still have been in the building through the end of that committee meeting even though the Capitol’s security checkpoints were closed to new visitors.
Wilson was filling in on the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday as it debated a Republican effort to impeach Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold. The effort failed.
“After completing an investigation into the incident it was determined by Capitol troopers that no state statutes were violated and there are no criminal charges pending as a result of this incident,” the State Patrol said in a written statement.
The incident comes as the legislature is debating Senate Bill 131, which would expand the list of places where people are prohibited from carrying a firearm — concealed or openly — to include the Colorado Capitol, schools and voting centers.
Rep. Don Wilson, R-Monument. (Handout)
The measure passed the Senate last week on a 21-14 vote that was mostly along party lines.
“I’ve heard ancillary stories of colleagues who have mishandled a firearm,” Sen. Larry Liston, a Colorado Springs Republican, said last week in the Senate while arguing in opposition to the bill. “But not once did I ever feel threatened.”
Liston also said it would be easy for a member of the public to sneak into the Capitol with a firearm.
There have been other incidents at the Capitol in recent years involving Republican state lawmakers and guns:
In January 2023, incoming state Rep. Ron Weinberg, R-Loveland, had two guns stolen from his vehicle while it was parked outside the building
In 2022, state Rep. Richard Holtorf, R-Akron, accidentally dropped his gun in the building as he rushed to a vote in the House. The gun didn’t go off.
In 2014, Rep. Jared Wright, R-Fruita, left a gun in his open bag in a committee room after a hearing on concealed carry permits.
No charges were filed in those incidents.
Colorado Sun staff writer Sandra Fish contributed to this report.
I am an older gay guy in a long-term wonderful relationship. My spouse and I are in our 36th year together. I love politics and news. I enjoy civil discussions and have no taboo subjects. My pronouns are he / him / his and my email is Scottiestoybox@gmail.com
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5 thoughts on “Republican state representative left a loaded handgun in Colorado Capitol bathroom”
As someone living in a nation where no-one, not even the police can legally carry a handgun, loaded or unloaded, I am completely mystified as to why a proportion of the American public believe that more guns makes it safer for everyone. The evidence is clearly to the contrary.
they seem to be caught up in the th9ught of “self protection” and the second Constitutional amendment, completely failing to understand that guns are more likely to be used against family members accidentally, and the 2nd is about a well-regulated MILITIA…not the individual. It is a mess frankly and we all need to wake up and limit gun ownership drastically.
Hi Barry. Two reasons, myth and greed. Most of the early TV shows all over the country from the early days of TV up until the mid 1970s, fictionalized accounts of the Western US were dubbed The Wild West. In all the shows and movies the good guys used guns to stop and jail the bad guys. In reality guns in the real history of the west were rare and their use highly regulated with most larger towns and cities having very strict gun control laws. Plus guns were expensive and ammunition also was costly and not always easy to get. But the fiction stuck and all kids wanted to be cowboys shooting their pretend guns to kill Indians and other bad guys.
Then the organization called the NRA, National Rifle Association, which started as a decent gun safety organization got a new leader who partnered with gun manufactures to drive gun sales, increase shared profits, and gain new members. To do this they ran campaigns based on fear of others, telling people they needed a gun to protect themselves in a violent country filled with dangerous black people, criminals, immigrants coming to rape their daughters, and so on. They fought to block any gun controls at all, fought to get ones already there reversed, and created ideas like stand your ground laws. During every mass shootings they were there to help politicians lie and block any gun control actions the public demanded. Using the increased profits from gun sales they pumped tons of money into lobbying, basically buy politicians to keep all gun control laws from being passed.
So that why now that 94 percent of the public want strict gun control laws to prevent the mass shooting of our kids in schools, to prevent people being shot in grocery stores, the bought and paid for politicians fight controls while playing to the fears of their base that their rights / freedoms are being stolen from them. Best wishes. Scottie
I understand the myth. Our small population cannot support a significant entertainment industry and even today less than 20% of free to air television is locally produced, and even less on streaming platforms. We grew up on a diet of Rawhide, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The High Chaparral, Daniel Boone, and Maverick to name a few. But to us they were imaginary places and situations in the same way as Dr Who, and Star Trek. Saturday matinee movies were often B-grade Westerns. And we played “cowboys and indians”, “Robin Hood” or “King Arthur” instead of imaginary games based on NZ history.
Perhaps we have been better served because there is no gun manufacturing in NZ, and therefore no source of money to finance a gun lobby. Mind you, after the Christchurch Mosque shootings, and the government announced that military style semi-automatics would be banned, the NRA attempted to get involved in a campaign against the proposed legislation. My understanding is that it provided the bulk of funding to our tiny gun lobby during the campaign. Most Kiwis saw that as America interfering in local politics, which resulted in the anti-ban campaign backfiring.
Hi Barry. Your people were smarter than the people in the US. They grew up thinking those shows were real, and today they act on that belief.
Yes the NRA was famous for going all over the world to boost gun sales and stopping any gun control laws. Because their entire function was profit from the sale of guns. They are the sales arm of the gun makers. It is a profit driven loop.
I am so glad your people chose sanity over the propaganda of fear that the gun lobby fosters. Best wishes. Scottie
Scottie's Playtime 
As someone living in a nation where no-one, not even the police can legally carry a handgun, loaded or unloaded, I am completely mystified as to why a proportion of the American public believe that more guns makes it safer for everyone. The evidence is clearly to the contrary.
LikeLiked by 3 people
they seem to be caught up in the th9ught of “self protection” and the second Constitutional amendment, completely failing to understand that guns are more likely to be used against family members accidentally, and the 2nd is about a well-regulated MILITIA…not the individual. It is a mess frankly and we all need to wake up and limit gun ownership drastically.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Hi Barry. Two reasons, myth and greed. Most of the early TV shows all over the country from the early days of TV up until the mid 1970s, fictionalized accounts of the Western US were dubbed The Wild West. In all the shows and movies the good guys used guns to stop and jail the bad guys. In reality guns in the real history of the west were rare and their use highly regulated with most larger towns and cities having very strict gun control laws. Plus guns were expensive and ammunition also was costly and not always easy to get. But the fiction stuck and all kids wanted to be cowboys shooting their pretend guns to kill Indians and other bad guys.
Then the organization called the NRA, National Rifle Association, which started as a decent gun safety organization got a new leader who partnered with gun manufactures to drive gun sales, increase shared profits, and gain new members. To do this they ran campaigns based on fear of others, telling people they needed a gun to protect themselves in a violent country filled with dangerous black people, criminals, immigrants coming to rape their daughters, and so on. They fought to block any gun controls at all, fought to get ones already there reversed, and created ideas like stand your ground laws. During every mass shootings they were there to help politicians lie and block any gun control actions the public demanded. Using the increased profits from gun sales they pumped tons of money into lobbying, basically buy politicians to keep all gun control laws from being passed.
So that why now that 94 percent of the public want strict gun control laws to prevent the mass shooting of our kids in schools, to prevent people being shot in grocery stores, the bought and paid for politicians fight controls while playing to the fears of their base that their rights / freedoms are being stolen from them. Best wishes. Scottie
LikeLiked by 1 person
I understand the myth. Our small population cannot support a significant entertainment industry and even today less than 20% of free to air television is locally produced, and even less on streaming platforms. We grew up on a diet of Rawhide, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The High Chaparral, Daniel Boone, and Maverick to name a few. But to us they were imaginary places and situations in the same way as Dr Who, and Star Trek. Saturday matinee movies were often B-grade Westerns. And we played “cowboys and indians”, “Robin Hood” or “King Arthur” instead of imaginary games based on NZ history.
Perhaps we have been better served because there is no gun manufacturing in NZ, and therefore no source of money to finance a gun lobby. Mind you, after the Christchurch Mosque shootings, and the government announced that military style semi-automatics would be banned, the NRA attempted to get involved in a campaign against the proposed legislation. My understanding is that it provided the bulk of funding to our tiny gun lobby during the campaign. Most Kiwis saw that as America interfering in local politics, which resulted in the anti-ban campaign backfiring.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Barry. Your people were smarter than the people in the US. They grew up thinking those shows were real, and today they act on that belief.
Yes the NRA was famous for going all over the world to boost gun sales and stopping any gun control laws. Because their entire function was profit from the sale of guns. They are the sales arm of the gun makers. It is a profit driven loop.
I am so glad your people chose sanity over the propaganda of fear that the gun lobby fosters. Best wishes. Scottie
LikeLiked by 1 person