The man who killed five at a drag show at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ club in November said he planned to be “the next mass killer,” warning them to not stand in his way as he tried to amass a cache of guns and ammunition, family members told law enforcement after a June 2021 armed standoff at his mother’s house, the Associated Press reports.
Even with that explicit report, the county sheriff declined to pursue a “red flag” order that would have prevented Anderson Aldrich from buying and possessing weapons likey because El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder is a conservative who refuses to file such motions because he believes in the unfettered right of anyone he approves of to possess a firearm.
“There were many warning signs,” a spokesman for Democratic Colorado Governor Jared Polis told the AP. “It appears obvious that an Extreme Risk Protection Order law could have and should have been utilized, which would have removed the suspect’s firearms and could very well have prevented this tragedy.”