How a new program hopes to enable teachers to use Colorado's ‘red flag’ law if a student shows troubling behavior

When school leaders in Colorado work to prevent shootings and other violent incidents – like the one last month at Evergreen High – they have a tool that officials in many states don’t have.  

Under Colorado’s so-called “red flag” law, teachers and other educators are among those who can request that someone’s access to firearms be suspended if they appear to be a threat to themselves or others.   

But as Chalkbeat reported recently, there’s little evidence that educators have used this tool in the two years since Colorado lawmakers gave it to them. And that lack of use is striking, given that police say that the shooter at Evergreen High showed warning signs months before he shot two other students, and then died by suicide, using a gun he got from home.   

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser thinks part of the problem is that teachers don’t know about this tool – or how to use it. So he is launching new training courses for teachers to help them better understand how and when to use what are called Extreme Risk Protection Orders.  

Weiser – who is running for governor, but launched this initiative in his current capacity as attorney general – spoke with In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole about why he’s optimistic this new teacher training will make a dent in the problem.  

This conversation contains mentions of suicide. 

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Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.