Councilman accused of bringing gun into Boulder court

Brian Bagley (City of Longmont)

LONGMONT, Colo. — A Longmont city councilman knew he had a gun in his briefcase, knew it was unlawful to carry the weapon into a courtroom and did it anyway, according to a authorities.

Those are the semantics on the charge, anyway.

The Longmont Times-Call is reporting that Brian Bagley, who serves as a criminal defense attorney, put his briefcase on a security conveyor belt at the Boulder County Justice Center with a .45-caliber Colt Defender inside on Aug. 31. The weapon wasn’t spotted until after Bagley got through security.

At that point, Bagley told the newspaper a security guard ran him down yelling, “Bagley! What the hell?”

The councilman told the newspaper that he accidentally left the gun in his briefcase after picking it up from his office. Bagley doesn’t own a concealed carry permit, making it illegal for him to carry the weapon away from that workplace.

While the language contained in the misdemeanor charge suggests that Bagley “knowingly and unlawfully” carried the handgun, Boulder County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Rick Brough told the newspaper it’s entirely possible that Bagley was carrying the gun unknowingly.

Bagley insisted that was the case, telling the newspaper he hustled out the door of his office after receiving the sobering news that his newborn niece had just died.

“I didn’t knowingly carry it, obviously,” Bagley told the Times-Call, “or I wouldn’t have thrown it on the conveyor belt and said ‘Happy Friday, boys!’”

Cmdr. Rick Brough of the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office