While proactive legislation to increase safety and security in the Centennial State is being ignored and cast aside, anti-gun legislators are continuing to push misguided measures that will disenfranchise law-abiding gun owners and have no effect on mitigating crime.
This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected two bills that would have provided protections for Colorado’s law-abiding citizens:
Senate Bill 9, sponsored by state senators Scott Renfroe (R-13) and Ted Harvey (R-30), was postponed indefinitely by a 3 to 2 vote. SB 9 would have authorized a school district board of education and the governing board of a charter school to adopt a written policy to allow an employee of the school district or charter school to carry a concealed handgun on school grounds if the person holds a valid permit to carry a concealed handgun.
Senate Bill 62, sponsored by state Senator Kent Lambert (R-9), was postponed indefinitely by a 3 to 2 vote. SB 62 would have established civil liability for businesses that prohibit the carrying of firearms on their premises, if a patron incurs damages from another person and is unable to defend themselves due to the prohibition on carrying a firearm.
However, anti-gun lawmakers continue to push futile bills that will render the innocent defenseless in the face of a dangerous or insane criminal. Many measures that would severely restrict your Second Amendment rights are being discussed and advocated by anti-gun lawmakers in the Colorado General Assembly including legislation to ban commonly-owned semi-automatic rifles, ban “high capacity magazines,” restrict private firearm sales and reverse the state Supreme Court ruling on Campus Carry.
In fact, state Senator Pat Steadman recently said comments in support of legislation to require gun buyers to pay a discriminatory fee (gun tax) to fund the duplicative background check imposed by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI). This CBI check occurs in addition to the free background check that already takes place at the federal level. He said, “It ought not wait on a larger package of gun safety legislation,” in reference to imposing burdensome fees. “We should do it in a hurry.”
This bill has nothing to do with safety, and will only result in discriminatory fees to pay for a broken system by law-abiding Coloradoans. It’s time to put an end to such legislative malfeasance in Denver. We need sound and thoughtful pro-gun reforms to improve the safety and gun rights of law-abiding residents in the Centennial State.
The NRA urges you to contact your state legislator, and ask him or her to respect your Second Amendment Rights by rejecting these misguided proposals that will hurt law-abiding gun owners in Colorado. Click here to view contact information for your elected officials in the Colorado General Assembly and Governor Hickenlooper.