Latest news with #SenateBill25-003
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Weld County Sheriff's Office says it will carry out new gun law duties while opposing law
DENVER (KDVR) — The Weld County Sheriff's Office said Monday that while it opposes the semiautomatic gun regulation that was signed into law, it will begin constructing a plan to fulfill the duties outlined for sheriff's offices in the measure. The hotly contested bill was signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday and requires training and a permit to be obtained by people who are seeking to buy a semiautomatic firearm with a detachable magazine in Colorado. It also bans the sale and purchase of rapid-fire conversion devices. On Monday, the Weld County Sheriff's Office revoiced its strong opposition to the new law, and the Weld County Board of County Commissioners unanimously supported a resolution submitted by Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams expressing such opposition. 'Unfortunately, Governor Polis signed SB 25-003 on April 10th of 2025, and the bill goes into effect on August 1st, 2026,' the Weld County Sheriff's Office said in a release. 'This bill will have a direct impact on the citizens of Weld County and the duties of the Weld County Sheriff's Office.' Governor signs bill requiring training for semiautomatic guns, banning rapid-fire conversion devices The office noted that refusing to perform the duties outlined in the legislation would 'have a negative impact' on Weld County citizens, and would 'essentially act as another impediment to the rights guaranteed in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.' Because of this, the sheriff's office said it will begin working on a plan to accommodate the process and will be including any necessary staff, equipment or other needs in the agency's 2026 budget request to the Board of County Commissioners. 'To make it abundantly clear, Sheriff Reams has stated that Senate Bill 25-003 will do nothing to reduce crimes involving guns in Colorado and is simply an affront to citizen's efforts to exercise their 2nd Amendment Rights,' the sheriff's office stated on X. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House committee amends, then passes bill to limit semiautomatic weapon sales
Democratic Reps. Andrew Boesenecker and Meg Froelich testify on Senate Bill 25-003 during its House committee hearing on March 11, 2025. (Sara Wilson/Colorado Newsline) A Colorado bill to limit the sale of certain semiautomatic firearms that accept detachable magazines passed its first House committee late Tuesday night, after being amended to clarify how county sheriffs and Colorado Parks and Wildlife would work together on a process for people to buy otherwise restricted guns. Senate Bill 25-3 passed on a 7-4 vote through the House Judiciary Committee after about 12 hours of witness testimony, most of which was from people opposed to the bill who showed up to rally outside the Capitol in the morning. The committee's four Republicans voted against it. The bill, originally a broad ban on the sale of semiautomatic firearms with detachable magazines, was amended heavily in the Senate to allow people to buy those types of guns if they complete a safety course, a compromise workshopped with Gov. Jared Polis' office to earn his support. The Senate passed it in February on a 19-15 vote. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'A permit-to-purchase program for these firearms recognizes both their unique lethality and also a pathway to ownership, which is accompanied by reasonable safety training to be able to understand the gravity of the moment when you put one of these firearms in your hands,' said Rep. Andrew Boesenecker, a Fort Collins Democrat sponsoring the bill. It is also sponsored by Rep. Meg Froelich, an Englewood Democrat. It was sponsored by Democratic Sens. Tom Sullivan of Centennial and Julie Gonzales of Denver in the Senate. Sponsors and supporters frame the bill as a way to enforce the state's high-capacity magazine ban from 2013. A person who wants to purchase semiautomatic rifles, shotguns and pistols that can accept detachable ammunition magazines would need to be vetted by their county sheriff, undergo either four or 12 hours of training — depending on whether they have a hunter safety certification already — and pass a test. That would enable them to buy an otherwise-banned firearm for five years. It would not limit possession of the targeted firearms. It would take effect in September of this year. CPW would be in charge of creating the application, determining the safety course requirements and setting the fees for that course. One amendment on Tuesday took out a fingerprinting requirement for a background check. An applicant would need to fill out the CPW form and submit to their sheriff a photo ID and the results of a name-based background check that looks at Colorado criminal history and judicial databases. Sheriffs would be able to set fees to cover the cost of vetting applicants. Another amendment would allow sheriffs to deny someone an eligibility card to undergo safety training if they have a 'reasonable belief that documented previous behavior by the applicant makes it likely that the applicant will present a danger to themself or others' if they access these types of firearms. 'Our sheriffs might have been out on a call to a property three or four times that week already, and (they) see that application come through, and it might give (them) pause about whether that individual has some other extenuating circumstances that might factor into consideration about whether to pause the (application) process for that individual,' Boesenecker said. Some members on the committee raised due process concerns about giving that additional layer of discretion to sheriffs, and the bill sponsors said they intend to address that issue in an amendment on the House floor. Another amendment addresses the cost of starting the permitting program before it would be able to fund itself. CPW would be allowed to transfer money from two cash funds — the Outdoor Recreation Cash Fund and the Wildlife Cash Fund — to cover startup costs. That would essentially be a loan that CPW would need to pay back into those cash funds by 2030. Republicans questioned the legal justification for the amendment. Cash funds are created for specific programs and purposes and are funded through fees, gifts and donations. The two cash funds contemplated in the amendment, for example, take money from hunting licenses, park passes and state lottery money. 'We set these cash funds up for a specific reason,' Rep. Matt Soper, a Delta Republican, said. 'When we do create these funds, they're not just to be moved around for different programs. Otherwise we'd be doing that for all of our bills, especially in a tight fiscal year.' Froelich responded that the safety course created in the bill would be part of CPW's general operations, so it makes sense to use cash funds within CPW. The department also already runs the hunting licensure course that would affect the length of an additional required safety course. Republicans on the committee opposed the bill on broad Second Amendment grounds and argued that requiring a safety course is a barrier to someone exercising their right to own a gun. 'If you want to get this done, not only do you have to pay for the training, now you have to pay for the sheriff,' Assistant Minority Leader Ty Winter, a Trinidad Republican, said. 'Can CPW do the job in a timely fashion? Will it create backlogs? Will it divert funds from the original mission of CPW? Many who testified have figured out that gun laws in Colorado are meant to be death by a thousand cuts, making it harder and harder.' The bill now heads to the House Finance Committee. If it makes it to the House floor, it will almost certainly pass with the chamber's 43-22 Democratic majority. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Colorado Senate committee advances bill to ban guns that accept detachable magazines
Sen. Tom Sullivan, a Centennial Democrat, listens to witness testimony during a Colorado Senate committee hearing on his bill that would ban firearms with detachable magazines on Jan. 28, 2025. (Sara Wilson/Colorado Newsline) A bill introduced at the Colorado Legislature to ban the sale of semiautomatic firearms that can take detachable magazines made it through its first committee hearing just before midnight Tuesday following hours of contentious witness testimony. Senate Bill 25-3 passed through the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee on a 3-2 vote. The committee's two Republicans voted against the bill. It is the third time in as many years that Democratic lawmakers have attempted to pass a substantial gun violence prevention measure that would ban the sale and manufacture of certain types of firearms. Bills in 2023 and 2024 would have banned so-called 'assault weapons' entirely, and last year's version passed the House of Representatives for the first time in state history before dying in a Senate committee. But this year's bill is distinct in that it has more widespread Democratic support at the outset, it does not ban firearms based on make, model or non-magazine features, and it comes from a longtime advocate for stricter gun laws, Sen. Tom Sullivan. The Centennial Democrat joined the Legislature following the murder of his son at the 2012 movie theater shooting in Aurora and has sponsored successful bills on a 'red flag' law, a waiting period for gun purchases, and a crackdown on untraceable 'ghost guns.' 'I will never be the firearms expert that many of you claim to be, and I don't ever want to be,' Sullivan said in his opening remarks as witnesses for the hearing filled three rooms in the Capitol. 'But I can say that I have heard it all on this matter, and that I believe Senate Bill 25-003 is a pathway forward.' Sullivan said he is not in favor of an assault weapons ban. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The bill is also sponsored by Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat, Rep. Andrew Boesenecker, a Fort Collins Democrat, and Rep. Meg Froelich, a Denver Democrat. 'As someone who actually has sponsored an assault weapons ban: this is not it. If you read the bill, you can buy an assault-style weapon as long as it has a fixed magazine and cannot be modified with high-capacity magazines that are illegal,' Gonzales said. She sponsored last year's semiautomatic rifle ban bill. Sponsors and supporters frame SB-3 as an effort to enforce the intent of Colorado's existing large-capacity magazine law from 2013, which limits magazines to 15 rounds of ammunition. It would require that a magazine be permanently attached to the gun, ensuring that owners could not attach an illegal large-capacity magazine that they purchased in a neighboring state. Experts say they are also still easily available in Colorado from some bad actors. 'There has been a high-capacity magazine ban in the state since 2013, but you can still buy them freely. Someone could leave this meeting, go down the street, buy one and bring it here and put it on this table. That's how easily they can be bought in this state,' Sullivan said. He said that there is little to no data on how many arrests have been made for someone selling or possessing large-capacity magazines and that violations of the law are typically added on top of crimes already committed. Gunmen in two recent Colorado shootings — in 2021 at a Boulder King Soopers and in 2023 at a nightclub in Colorado Springs — used magazines banned under state law and had large-capacity magazine charges added. The bill would ban the manufacture, sale, purchase and transfer of semiautomatic rifles and shotguns and gas-operated semiautomatic handguns capable of accepting detachable magazines. A rifle that accepts detachable magazines that use 0.22 caliber and lower ammunition would be allowed, unless it has a separate upper and lower receiver. Models that would be prohibited could become compliant with the law if manufacturers permanently weld, solder or epoxy the magazine to the firearm. Manufacturers could also offer new versions of popular firearm models with fixed magazines. 'Research has shown that these kinds of laws can help prevent mass shooting injuries and fatalities, but for high-capacity magazine laws to be maximally protective, the firearms themselves need to be regulated,' said Alison Shih, the senior counsel at Everytown for Gun Safety. 'There is no good reason why law-abiding gun owners need firearms with detachable magazines that evade a law that has been on the books in this state for years,' she said. Supporters argue that fixed, lower-capacity magazines would lessen the lethality of semiautomatic weapons used in mass shootings, since the number of bullets that could be fired would be greatly reduced. Research shows that states with regulations on magazine size have fewer mass shootings than states without restrictions, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. The bill would not prohibit possession, and people who had the targeted weapons before the measure went into effect would not need to relinquish their guns. A banned gun in the bill could be transferred to an heir, someone out of state or to a licensed firearm dealer. 'This will not impact a single firearm you presently own,' Sullivan said. 'This is about the next one, and maybe the first one for the next mass shooter.' The bill would also effectively outlaw rapid-fire trigger devices by classifying them as a 'dangerous weapon.' Those devices are also known as bump stocks and allow semiautomatic weapons to fire at a faster rate. Violations would be a Class 2 misdemeanor on the first offense and a Class 6 felony after that. A dealer that violates the law would have their firearm dealer permit revoked. Opponents, including gun store owners, argue that the bill would outlaw a large share of available stock and limit Coloradans' ability to defend themselves against an armed aggressor. They say it amounts to a repackaged assault weapons ban, as most semiautomatic pistols and rifles take detachable magazines. 'If passed, this would ban the most-sold rifle in America, the most popular home defense firearm, most common competition rifles and numerous commonly-own pistol and shotgun models,' said Ray Elliot, president of the Colorado State Shooting Association. Colorado Springs firearms instructor Ava Flanell testified that semiautomatic guns with detachable magazines are built so they can be simply and safely loaded and unloaded, ensure certainty that there is no ammunition in the gun, and make it easier to clear any malfunctions. 'As a firearm instructor, one of our greatest concerns is a student having a negligent discharge. In order to avoid this, we stress the importance of keeping their firearm unloaded if they're not using it. This bill basically encourages users to have their firearm loaded,' she said. Opponents also pushed back on the bill on Second Amendment grounds and claimed it would not hold up against the 2022 New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, which requires historical precedent for gun restrictions. The bill does not have a fiscal impact, according to a nonpartisan analysis from legislative staff. The Department of Public Safety, however, estimates that it would significantly increase the caseload of firearms that Colorado Bureau of Investigation would need to test, requiring over $4.6 million in the next fiscal year, eight additional employees and a remodel of the CBI lab in Pueblo. There is already a significant backlog of firearms that need to be function tested. The fiscal note's author told lawmakers that based on a comparable crime analysis and feedback from the state's judicial department, he assumed a minimal amount of additional guns would be submitted to CBI. He said the current large-capacity magazine ban amounts to about 67 cases annually and that about 1% of the state's 2,000 licensed firearm deals would be in violation. The committee also approved a handful of amendments to the bill on Tuesday night to exempt hunting and shooting guns that accept tube-style magazines, exempt prop guns used in film productions, and clarify that law enforcement officers who are required to buy their own guns can purchase otherwise prohibited firearms. The bill will next head to the Senate floor for consideration. It currently has 15 sponsors in addition to Sullivan and Gonzales. It needs 18 votes to pass the Senate. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
