Talking Gun Control with a Congressman and a Club Q Survivor

After the Club Q shooting, brewery owner and operator Richard Fierro, was quickly recognized as a national hero for his actions that night. Thrust into the limelight, and the debate on gun violence, Fierro and his wife, Jessica, received special invitations from Colorado Congressman Jason Crow to fly to Washington, D.C.

“When I saw the news of the Club Q shooting and I learned about Rich’s role and saw that he’s a fellow combat veteran, but also somebody that just jumped into action when people needed and helped save lives, I just knew that he was the right person to welcome to D.C. for the state of the union and the try to highlight his story but also highlight the issue of gun violence in America,” Congressman Jason Crow tells OFM.

In addition to being present during the president’s state of the union address, Fierro and his family were able to tour various parts of Capitol Hill and meet influential lawmakers.

“We were able to meet Alexandria Ocasio Cortez this morning, and my wife is a big fan of hers, so that was really cool,” Fierro says.

But beyond sightseeing and rubbing elbows, this trip to D.C. offered Fierro a first-hand look at how capital hill functions and the work being done to combat the startling number of mass shootings happening this year. As of February 16, there have been 71 mass shootings in the U.S., and that number continues to rise daily.

As a representative of Colorado’s 6th district, Congressman Jason Crow sits on various committees and caucuses including the gun violence prevention task force. Congressmen Crow’s district, which covers Aurora, Englewood, and Littleton, has been devastated by gun violence for decades. From the Columbine shooting in 1999 to the Aurora theater shooting in 2012, Congressmen Crow is all-too-familiar with his district making national headlines for all the wrong reasons.

“We’re no stranger in the 6th district to this type of violence and tragedy,” Congressmen Crow tells OFM.

“I’m somebody that learned in the army that citizenship comes with privilege, but it also comes with duties and responsibilities. We have duties to each other, and responsible firearm ownership and protecting our communities and our children is one of those duties that, frankly, we are failing at right now.”

In response to the growing epidemic of gun violence in America, lawmakers passed the Safer Communities Act, the first piece of legislation of its kind in 30 years. The long-overdue act enhances background checks and provides support for red flag laws, which prevent those who show signs of being a risk to themselves or others from legally obtaining a firearm. Colorado has its own red flag law, passed in 2019.

In addition to making it more difficult to obtain a firearm, lawmakers are looking to ban assault rifles. While a majority of mass shootings are committed with handguns, the deadly power of semi-automatic assault weapons cannot be ignored. Semi-automatic rifles were featured in four of the five deadliest mass shootings, being used in the Orlando nightclub massacre, Sandy Hook Elementary massacre, and Texas First Baptist Church massacre.

“I mean, I use these weapons at war, and that’s what they’re designed for,” Congressman Crow says.

“Don’t ever let anybody tell you that the gun doesn’t matter. When I went to Iraq and Afghanistan, I didn’t take my deer hunting rifle with me, and when I went deer hunting, I didn’t take my assault rifle with me. That’s because they’re vastly different things, and they’re designed to do different things.”

For Fierro, an army veteran himself, seeing weapons of war at home was something he’d never anticipated. In interviews following the shooting, Fierro described how being in these life-or-death situations can have a permanent effect on one’s mental health. The paranoia from the war that never left him may have contributed to his heroic actions that night, something he never wanted to have to act on.

“When you hear those bullets coming past you, it changes you as a person. And that’s not something I ever wanted for my family, and I would consider everybody in that club that night my family,” Fierro tells OFM.

An unfortunate pattern of hate has followed many of the mass shootings of late, with attacks on mosques, synagogues, and LGBTQ spaces. These hate crimes unveil another layer of the complicated issue at hand.

“Whenever a group of people is targeted because of their identity, their race, their creed, or religion, it’s an especially troubling dynamic. Antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia, racism, and Asian hate, all these things are on the rise right now. It’s a national problem that we need to have a very honest discussion about but also be really clear about our values that we’re not going to tolerate it as a society,” Congressmen Crow says.

“I think we’ve learned the last few years that words matter. When you have people that are in positions of power and influence using words that stir up hate, and they use inflammatory rhetoric, people get hurt.”

For Fierro, fighting hate comes in the form of building stronger communities, stronger allyship, and holding up his reasons for joining the military.

“I will tell you what—If you look at the table that I was sitting at the night we were at Club Q—I’m straight; my wife is straight; my two best friends there are straight; my daughter was there, and she’s straight. But she met a young man at 7 years old named Wyatt, and he performs drag. He came out in high school; this kid has had a rough go, just because he wanted to be who he was. I never at any point want anyone to judge my kid or myself on anything other than their character,” Fierro tells OFM.

“I think these kids are what we fought a war for. I mean honestly, got we fought for everybody to do whatever they want, and I’ve said it 100 times, there should be no reason that anybody can’t be in a room and not fear war to come to their door, especially (in) the United States.”