Colorado gun-violence prevention office outlines grants, data dashboard and IRPO outreach

Molly Siegel, director of the Colorado Office of Gun Violence Prevention, described the office’s statutory responsibilities and current priorities during a League of Women Voters of Colorado webinar, saying the office takes “a public health approach” and works “with people on all sides of the issue” to reduce harms from firearms.

Siegel told the virtual meeting she has led the office for about four months and summarized its main programs: a public-awareness campaign called Let’s Talk Guns Colorado; a community grant program supporting six large grantees; a research and resource bank and interactive data dashboard; and outreach and training to increase use of Colorado’s extreme risk protection orders (IRPOs).

The office’s public-awareness work, Siegel said, targets gun owners and households with firearms, health care professionals, and others with messages about safe storage, Colorado law and how IRPOs work. “We are neutral in terms of gun violence,” Siegel said. “We know that this is a highly polarized issue, and we work with people on all sides of the issue and really focus on reducing the harms associated with firearms.”

Siegel said the office has funded both the campaign and grants this fiscal year, noting it had released $1,000,000 in total for the grant program and the campaign. She also said the office receives general‑fund support and that the state provides about $3,000,000 annually to the broader public‑health work that supports the office’s activities.

Community grantees Siegel named include Mind Springs Health; Community Pearl; Bridge to Justice (Boulder); Garfield Youth Services (serving Garfield, Pitkin and Rio Blanco counties); Metro Denver Partners/Denver Health and University of Colorado Anschutz (a hospital‑based violence intervention program); Joint Initiatives (El Paso and Teller counties); the American Academy of Pediatrics (Secure Their Futures campaign in Arapahoe and Douglas counties); Speak Up Reach Out (Eagle Valley); and Struggle of Love (Denver metro). She said those organizations work on a range of prevention activities, including safe‑storage education, youth leadership and wraparound services, violence interruption, and distribution of cable locks.

On IRPOs, Siegel described the office’s role in education and training. She said Colorado law permits law enforcement, school personnel and health care professionals to file IRPOs, and the office is developing curricula to teach clinicians how to file and how to work with law enforcement. Citing the office’s data to 2023, Siegel said IRPO filings and grants have increased since 2020: “We’ve seen 275 that were granted between the years of 2020 through 2023,” and “about 67% are granted.” She told participants that filings have risen (she cited an increase from 96 to 168 filings between early years and 2023) and that grants are more likely when law enforcement files the petitions because law enforcement can complete the needed court procedures more readily.

Siegel demonstrated the office’s data dashboard and highlighted several measures shown there. Using figures presented from the dashboard, she reported an overall age‑adjusted firearm death rate of 16.7 (unit not specified in the presentation), with suicide accounting for the largest share of that figure (reported as 11.4 in the dashboard view) and homicide reported at 4.6. She noted that mass shootings, defined in the dashboard as events involving four or more victims, numbered 16 in 2023, and that firearm sales data on the dashboard show a decline in purchases in 2024. The dashboard also includes self‑reported household firearm access and storage: Siegel cited a survey result showing 36.5% of respondents report at least one firearm in the household and 54% reporting at least one firearm stored unlocked (self‑reported measures).

Siegel described partnerships that support the office’s work, naming the University of Colorado Anschutz, the Trailhead Institute, the Office of Suicide Prevention, Colorado Safe Futures Fund (a philanthropic collaborative she said has raised about $1 million), the Colorado Health Foundation, the Rose Foundation, the Department of Education, the Office of School Safety, the Behavioral Health Administration, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (environmental data), the Department of Public Safety, and the Office of the Attorney General. She said the attorney general’s office is finalizing an IRPO curriculum for law enforcement and that coordinating training and trusted messengers through public safety agencies is a strategy the office uses to increase uptake in jurisdictions where police are uncertain about enforcement.

Siegel outlined other outreach and tools: mini‑grants under $10,000 available to local public health agencies for education and lock distribution; planned fact sheets on recently enacted legislation (participants referenced a newly signed semiautomatic‑weapons bill described in the meeting as “Senate Bill 30”); and plans to update the dashboard with 2024 data during the current fiscal year.

Participants asked about uneven enforcement by some law enforcement agencies and whether the office works directly with those departments. Siegel said the office provides data and training support but typically partners with the Department of Public Safety and the Attorney General’s office to provide the direct outreach and training that local law enforcement trusts. She also discussed alternatives to IRPOs, emphasizing safe storage and connecting people in crisis with mental‑health care as preferred first options when feasible.

Siegel closed by inviting organizations to collaborate and by offering to share training materials, fact sheets and dashboard demonstrations with interested stakeholders.