DENVER – The annual showdown in the Colorado Legislature over gun control fired off again on Monday, with Republicans attempting to expand access.
The Democratic-controlled House committee hearing the package of five bills was poised to defeat the Republican-backed measures. The package includes:
House Bill 1024 would roll back a 2013 law pushed by Democrats that prohibited ammunition magazines of more than 15 rounds.
House Bill 1204 would allow concealed-carry on school campuses in an attempt to address “gun-free zones.”
House Bill 1023 would extend the “make my day” law to businesses by allowing deadly force against an intruder;
House Bill 1179 would exempt military members from the concealed carry law.
Senate Bill 17 would allow gun owners to carry a concealed firearm without a permit.
The issue hit a boiling point in 2013 when Democrats, in addition to the ban on high-capacity magazines, also passed a measure that required universal background checks.
This year, Republicans had not introduced a bill to repeal universal background checks, which gun-control advocates view as progress. Still, the gun control world sees it necessary to continue fighting each year against measures that seek to expand access to firearms.
“The bills are dead, they just don’t know it,” said Eileen McCarron, president of Colorado Ceasefire, who referred to the gun measures as “zombie bills” at a news conference prior to the bills being heard in committee.
Gun-control advocates pointed to statistics in 2014, when 647 people in Colorado died from gun violence. Nationally, over 33,000 people die each year from guns, fewer than from auto accidents.
Republican Rep. J. Paul Brown, of Ignacio, was deposed in a lawsuit filed by county sheriffs seeking to repeal the 2013 laws. Brown, a sheepherder, was asked to provide information related to the hurdles he faces conducting background checks for foreign herders who he hires.
The lawsuit is working its way through the appellate process.
Rep. Patrick Neville, R-Castle Rock, who carried the measure to allow handguns in schools, said the issue is about safety.
“I, for one, am tired of sending my daughters to school on blind faith that they will return home from a place where people are prevented by state law from equipping themselves to protect my daughters,” Neville said.
But Jane Dougherty, whose sister Mary Sherlach was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012, said gun-free zones are not the problem.
“Here we are again, another session, another attempt to repeal...” Dougherty said.
“We will continue to show up year after year, if we must, to work to keep the guns out of the hands that will do us harm.”
