(The Center Square) – A Colorado gun group delivered a petition Thursday morning to Gov. Jared Polis urging him to veto a controversial gun control bill that the legislature recently passed.
Senate Bill 25-003 was originally an outright ban on the sale or purchase of most semi-automatic rifles or shotguns that take detachable magazines, but was amended to allow for purchases if an individual secures a “firearms safety course eligibility card” from their sheriff department and completes a qualifying firearm education course.
The bill is “a dangerous attack on our Second Amendment freedoms,” the Colorado State Shooting Association said in an email appeal for their petition on Wednesday. “This is a defining moment for Colorado gun owners, and we need you in this fight.”
According to CSSA, 40,000 people signed the petition.
The petition states: “We the undersigned being registered electors in the State of Colorado, in recognition of the right to keep and bear arms guaranteed to us by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and repeatedly reaffirmed by the United States Supreme Court, including recent decisions such as Bruen, hereby demand that Governor Jared Polis veto Senate Bill 25-003, or the Semi-Automatic Firearm Ban, in the case it is approved by the legislature and placed upon his desk for signature into law.”
The Colorado Senate gave final passage to SB 25-003 last week in a 19-15-1 vote, sending it to the governor to be signed into law.
The bill’s Democratic backers argue the legislation is necessary to fully enforce the state’s 2013 ban on “high capacity” magazines holding over 15 rounds.
“We passed legislation – in this building, in this General Assembly in 2013 – that limited the sale and possession of high-capacity magazines over 15 [rounds],” bill sponsor Sen. Tom Sullivan, whose son was killed in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting, said before the final vote on the bill last week.
“In the 10-12 years since, it has been woefully inadequate [and] they were not enforcing it. We knew they were not enforcing it,” the lawmaker from Centennial said, as The Center Square previously reported.
Polis is expected to sign the bill into law any day.
CSSA is also among gun rights groups that are suing to stop the state’s new excise tax on firearm and ammunition sales, which took effect on Tuesday.
Colorado’s Republican congressional delegation also urged Polis to veto the bill in a letter sent Wednesday.
“Despite making some amendments to the legislation to appear less restrictive, the Colorado State Legislature proceeded with a partisan vote to pass one of the most restrictive gun ownership laws in the United States – on par with California and Illinois’ gun laws,” read the letter, signed by Republican U.S. Reps. Jeff Crank, Jeff Hurd, Gabe Evans and Lauren Boebert. “The bill would impose a deceptive ‘permit-to-purchase’ system riddled with bureaucratic hurdles and impedes our constituents’ ability to freely exercise their right to self-defense.”
Shelby Wieman, a spokesperson with the Governor’s Office, said the governor is focused on improving public safety.
“The governor was clear he would oppose banning any guns, and his team worked with the sponsors, and got feedback from the hunting and sport shooting community, and members of law enforcement to amend the bill to address the overarching concerns, remove any bans on guns, and ensure people could continue to purchase the gun of their choice,” Wieman told The Center Square. “The final bill allows responsible Coloradans to continue to purchase the gun of their choice as long as they receive gun safety education.”
