The man behind the referendum petition to repeal Castle Rock’s open-carry ban wants voters to decide its fate, not what he says is a conflicted town council.
Siegfried Guentensberger, who lives in the Meadows and owns a consulting business, and Jacob Vargish, who is a neighbor and friend of Guentensberger, filed the petition Feb. 26.
Guentensberger, who spoke on behalf of himself and Vargish, said he has a problem with just town council deciding the issue and accused Mayor Paul Donahue of being personally conflicted since he is an investor in the Centennial Gun Club.
“If we’re going to have the open-carry, I’m fine with that, but it needs to be decided by the individuals of Castle Rock, the voters of Castle Rock and not a mayor who owns a gun club, and individuals speaking from Franktown and from Parker who don’t even live in Castle Rock,” Guentensberger said, referring to those who have spoken in favor of the repeal in front of council. “So I thought the best way to make that decision would be the voters of Castle Rock making that and not a conflicted board that had a personal agenda.”
Donahue said he doesn’t think he’s biased or conflicted on the issue. His support of open-carry comes from his support of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which provides for the right for people to keep and bear firearms, he said, and not because he’s an investor in a gun club.
“I own bank stocks, I own gas company stock, I’m an investor in those as well,” Donahue said. “Does that lend itself to my supporting a position that might favor those industries? Does that taint those as well?”
Council first brought up the 2003 ban in September. In December, council asked staff to draft an ordinance repealing the ban.
The town council approved the repeal of the ban on second reading Jan. 28 .
The measure would have taken effect Feb. 27 and allowed open carry of firearms on all town-owned and -managed properties and buildings. Council’s vote was 4-3, with Clark Hammelman, Chip Wilson and Mark Heath voting no. Wilson and Heath thought the issue should go to the voters, which was why Guentensberger said he collected the 2,657 signatures he submitted.
As of press time, town clerk Sally Misare was still counting the signatures. Guentensberger needs 1,887 valid signatures for the petition to be certified. Misare has until March 28 to declare the petition valid or invalid.
Guentensberger said he’s not anti-gun, but in the process of collecting signatures he found other people on both sides of the issue who felt it should be determined by voters.
“I don’t think individuals should be able to take long guns into the rec center or stuff like that,” he said. “But if it’s a holstered handgun, which is what a majority of responsible gun owners would be doing, I don’t necessarily personally have a problem with that. But the definition of what open carry is and how it’s enforced is kind of a gray area.”
Donahue said if the petition is valid, he would most likely support it going to a vote, preferably in November and not a special election. Guentensberger agreed.
“They’ve already wasted a lot of resources on it in the last year and a half, and a lot of committees they disregarded when they decided to repeal it,” he said.
Clayton Woullard: 303-954-2953, cwoullard@denverpost.com