Semi-Auto Ban On the Move in Colorado Statehouse

A sweeping bill that would outlaw the manufacture and sale of almost every semi-automatic rifle and shotgun on the market is slated for its first hearing in the Colorado legislature on Tuesday. 

SB 3 is the top priority for gun control advocates in the state, and will serve as model legislation for anti-gunners going forward. The bill essentially bans every semiautomatic rifle or semiautomatic shotgun that can accept a detachable magazine along with all gas-operated semiautomatic handguns with detachable magazines. While the bill contains a grandfather clause allowing existing owners to keep possession of their guns (at least for the moment), it prohibits “knowingly manufacturing, distributing, transferring, selling, or purchasing a specified semiautomatic firearm” going forward, with only limited exceptions allowing a transfer to an heir, someone residing outside Colorado, or a federally licensed firearm dealer.

On Tuesday afternoon the Senate State, Military, and Veterans Affairs Committee will get its first crack at SB 3, though there’s little doubt about the outcome of today’s hearing. The bill already has the support of almost half the state Senate and will almost certainly reach Gov. Jared Polis’ desk in the coming weeks. 

Democrats argue the legislation is necessary for safety.

“High-capacity magazines make shootings more lethal by increasing the amount of ammunition that can be fired before a shooter needs to pause to reload,” Senate Democrats said in a statement.

Many pro-firearm advocacy groups have already come out against the legislation, urging Coloradans to share their concerns during the committee meeting.

“We need all freedom-loving Coloradans to show in full force next Tuesday and oppose this egregious violation of our rights,” said Rocky Mountain Gun Owners in a statement.

Considered one of the top states in the nation for “gun law strength,” in the last five years, Colorado has enacted over 30 different gun laws.

Yet, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun violence prevention group, gun violence in the state remains higher than the national average. Nationally, there are 13.7 gun deaths per 100,000 residents, in Colorado that number is 16.6.

Violent criminals don’t care about the gun control laws that Democrats have been enacting over the past twelve years, and frankly, Democrats don’t seem to care that much about punishing violent criminals either. The same progressive majority in the statehouse that’s continually assaulting the right to keep and bear arms is coddling criminals, as District Attorney George Brauchler recently detailed in the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Over the next few weeks, the Dems in power will push forward legislation to:

• Eliminate the crime of attempted extreme indifference murder (the Aurora Theater mass murderer was convicted of 70 counts of that very charge); 

Provide immunity from even the juvenile justice system for 10- and 11-year-olds for some crimes;

• Expand the jurisdiction of AG Weiser to go after cops (despite the failure of his ill-advised prosecutions in the Elijah McLain cases);

• Expand ways in which juveniles claiming to be incompetent can avoid accountability;

• Weaken our trial system by eliminating the most law-abiding citizens from our jury pools by allowing those 70+ to opt out of jury service (Hickenlooper is 72), and,

• Allow those who claim to be insane to avoid criminal culpability to remain on bond on our 16th Street Mall and other venues.

It will likely get worse. For instance, there is an annual bill to address the chronic shortage in judges (as in the 23rd Judicial District) by funding a strategic handful each year. Our General Assembly has so outspent and overcommitted its predictable budget over the past few years, that bill might die. Less judges mean less trials mean more fire sales of plea bargains to crime to offset the limited capacity. Less judges result in less justice and less public safety. Yet, here we are.

As they have proven each year since I took office in 2013, our Legislature has set a course to be the most offender friendly in memory.

The Democrats in charge in Denver are making a conscious decision to coddle criminals, while making life miserable for those residents exercising their Second Amendment rights. Even if the fix is in on SB 3, I hope gun owners turn out in force for today’s committee hearing to voice their objections and to chastise lawmakers for their tyrannical attack on our fundamental right to keep and bear arms.