Watered Down (But Still Awful) Semi-Auto Ban Approved By Colorado Senate

A bill banning the future sale and manufacture of all gas-operated semi-automatic firearms that can accept a detachable magazine has officially been approved by the Colorado Senate, but not before undergoing major revisions.

As originally written, SB 3 allowed those who already possess the prohibited firearms to keep ahold of them, but banned everyone else in the state from acquiring one in the future. The bill was changed, however, after talks with Gov. Jared Polis, who’d expressed some reservations about a pure hardware ban.

The revised SB 3 still prohibits the sale, manufacture, and possession of the vast majority of semi-automatic long guns, but also contains a carveout for residents who undergo additional training and receive a firearms safety certificate from their local sheriff. This is essentially a permit-to-purchase some of the most popular and commonly owned long guns in the country, as well as a backdoor registration scheme; something that several Republican lawmakers objected to during Tuesday’s debate.

Nearly a dozen Republican lawmakers took the floor on Tuesday to voice their opinion against the bill, many of them saying with the amendment it takes a right and turns it into a privilege.

“This is not a privilege granted by the government, it is a right inherent to who I am and enshrined in the United States Constitution,” Senate Minority Leader Republican Paul Lundeen said of the Second Amendment.

Republicans also voiced concerns over a “registry” being created for purchasing these types of firearms.

“I’ve had hundreds of emails I think, so many I didn’t answer them all,” Republican Sen. Marc Catlin said. “The point is, people are really concerned about this, the idea they have to put their name on a list.”

While plenty of Colorado residents have been sounding off about SB 3, gun control groups have been strangely silent about the changes to SB 3. The amendment backed by Polis hardly makes the legislation palatable to Second Amendment advocates, but it should also have drawn at least some muted criticism from principled anti-gun activists given that it still allows the guns they deem “weapons of war” to be sold to any Coloradan willing to go through 12 additional hours of firearm training.

The fact that the anti-gunners aren’t raising any objections, at least publicly, speaks volumes all on its own. Even with the watered-down language of SB 3, the legislation would still impose the most sweeping semi-auto ban in U.S. history, and there’s nothing stopping Democrats from going back and removing the grandfather clause and/or the firearms safety certificate requirement in the future; returning the bill to its earlier pure prohibition stance.

I hate to say that SB 3’s passage is a fait accompli, but the bill will probably get more support in the House than it did in the Senate, where it was approved by a vote of 19-15. And though Polis hasn’t come out and officially endorsed the amended version of SB 3, the changes came about as a result of discussions between his office and the bill’s sponsors, so it’s highly likely that the governor will put pen to paper and sign SB 3 into law when it reaches his desk.

The only thing that might change that is public outcry, and it’s important that gun owners stay engaged and in the fight as the Colorado House takes up SB 3. I suspect that sales of the guns targeted by SB 3 are about to go through the roof in the Rocky Mountain State, which will send a message of its own, but the governor in particular needs to hear from Second Amendment advocates as well. The odds of SB 3 becoming law may be in the anti-gunners favor at the moment, but if Polis feels enough political heat from his constituents, perhaps he’ll see the light as well.

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