Firearm Policies, Procedures & Guidelines (Hinsdale County Sheriffs Office)

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Colorado Open Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

Any and all policies, procedures, directives, memorandums, and any other guiding materials regarding matters pertaining to firearm acquisition, licensure, use, and transfer, including, but not limited to, the following:
• policies and procedures on the issuance of firearms permits and licenses. (Please note that this point is not a request for identities of individual permit/license holders, but is rather a request for governmental policies and parameters regarding the process and regulations by which one may obtain a license or permit. If separate strictures exist for each, provision of both would be greatly appreciated.)
• policies and procedures on the revocation of firearms permits and licenses.
• any and all available policies and procedures regarding local firearms policies. Please provide all such materials that alter or supplement departmental procedures.
Please include all available segregable data.
Please also provide all available data, statistics, or reports regarding matters pertaining to gun acquisition, licensure, use, and transfer, including, but not limited to, the following:
• the issuance of firearms permits and licenses.
• the revocation of firearms permits and licenses.
• the suspension of firearms permits and licenses.
• the renewal of firearms permits and licenses.
• incidents involving the use of a firearm.
If various policies or reports exist dependent on the type of firearm, provision of all applicable materials would be greatly appreciated. Should they be voluminous, provision of materials on rolling basis would be greatly appreciated.
Should your agency believe that any additional policies, procedures, reports or other analysis pertaining to firearm acquisition, licensure, use, transfer, deaths, incidents, or any related issues may reside with another agency or agencies, indication of such agencies would be greatly appreciated.
Please notify us if further clarification is necessary.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 3 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Caroline Curtis

Hi Sheriff Bruce,
I'm so sorry for the delay in my response, and appreciate your patience. When I originally sent this request to the Colorado Attorney General's Office, they actually suggested I reach out to all county sheriffs. Given the amount, I have been receiving a lot of responses. Many have stated that they follow Colorado statues regarding permits, as I see you do, so I do apologize for that aspect of the request.

I admit I am surprised to see that there have been no incidents of gun violence in Hinsdale County over the past 10 years. By incidents I mean crimes in which a firearm was reportedly used. I do not doubt that your armed populace is a polite one, but at the same time I recognize that not all crimes involving use of a firearm are intentional; accidents do happen.

And as for my end game, I am simply interested in looking at different firearms policies in the U.S. I am not coming at this request from any particular angle besides general interest.

I hope this provides some clarification, and please do not hesitate to contact me with any further questions, etc.

Best,
Caroline Curtis