(The Center Square) – Colorado’s Democratic-controlled General Assembly is poised to send several gun control bills to Gov. Jared Polis roughly two months into the legislative session.
The House is expected to hear on third reading this week Senate Bill 26-046, which would require all purchases of gun barrels to be made in-person at a firearm dealer.
Last week, House lawmakers approved legislation to expand the state’s “Red Flag” law and require stricter permitting requirements and security measures at gun stores. Another bill that would ban using a 3D printer to make firearms or components and criminalize possession of digital instructions is scheduled for a second reading on the Senate floor on Tuesday.
Democrats argue the bills are aimed at reducing gun violence, while Republicans and gun rights groups say they chip away at Second Amendment rights.
SB 26-046 would also require firearm dealers to keep a sales record of barrels for at least five years. The bill was scheduled for third reading on Monday in the House, but was laid over until Tuesday. Once passed, it will head back to the Senate for a vote on the House’s amendments, then if approved go to the Democratic governor’s desk to be signed into law.
Rep. Kyle Brown, D-Louisville, one of the bill’s sponsors, said in a statement last week that the legislation would help get unserialized ghost guns “out of our communities.”
“By having a record of gun barrel transactions, law enforcement will have a way to trace a gun found at a crime scene to the person who committed the crime,” he said. “We’re balancing public safety and responsible gun ownership to save Colorado lives.”
The Colorado State Shooting Association said it will explore legal options against the bill if signed into law.
“It’s a ridiculous bill,” CSSA Operations Director Daniel Fenlason told The Center Square Monday in a phone interview. “It doesn’t do anything to stop gun violence. It doesn’t do anything to address any of the actual problems facing Colorado.”
“It’s just to punish people who are exercising their Second Amendment rights,” added Fenlason, who’s a survivor of the 2014 Seattle Pacific University shooting.
Another piece of legislation, House Bill 26-1302, which would change the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s InstaCheck operating hours, was passed by the House State, Civic, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee on Monday. It was amended to require CBI to immediately process background checks.
Fenlason said the bureau is currently not processing background checks immediately, sometimes adding a day wait to the state’s three-day waiting period requirement to purchase firearms.
Last legislative session, Democrats introduced a bill that would have outright banned semi-automatic firearms that take a magazine, but the legislation was amended to allow for purchases only after an individual obtains a “firearms safety course eligibility card” from their sheriff’s department and completes the extensive course.
The law, which goes into effect on Aug. 1, has already been challenged in court and called “a direct affront to the Constitutional rights.”
In recent years, the legislature passed the initial “Red Flag” law, a three-day waiting period for firearm purchases, an increase in the age to purchase,and stricter concealed-carry qualifications. It also referred a measure to the ballot to tax ammunition and firearm purchases, which voters passed.
