- Colorado is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is part of the Southwestern United States, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas to the east, and Oklahoma to the southeast. Colorado is noted for its landscape of mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers, and desert lands. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is the eighth-largest U.S. state by area and the 20th by population. The United States Census Bureau estimated the population of Colorado to be 5,957,493 as of July 1, 2024, a 3.2% increase from the 2020 United States census.
- Seattle Black Panther Party protests gun-control bill in Olympia on February 28, 1969. (historylink.org)
On February 28, 1969, eight Black Panthers from the party’s Seattle chapter arrive in Olympia and stand on the steps of the state capitol building holding rifles and shotguns to protest a bill passed by the legislature the day before that would make it a misdemeanor to exhibit firearms or other weapons in a manner manifesting intent to intimate others. A Washington State Patrol officer asks the Panthers to unload their weapons and they do. After Seattle chapter captain Aaron Dixon (b. 1949) reads a statement to the legislature, the Panthers leave the capitol grounds and return to Seattle. The dramatic protest notwithstanding, Governor Dan Evans (1925-2024) signs the gun-control measure into law that same day.
