“No man’s life liberty, or Second Amendment rights are safe when Democrats dominate the state assembly.” —Gideon J. Tucker, possibly
Colorado used to be one of the most Second Amendment-friendly states in the nation, but things keep getting worse under Democrat rule, now with four new gun control measures approved by the assembly during the session that just wrapped up last week.
First up is the expansion of the state’s so-called “red flag” law, or Senate Bill 26-004. The bill — signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis in April — “expands the eligibility list of those allowed to file for an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO),” as Savana Kascak put it for Complete Colorado, “to include institutions such as health-care providers, behavioral health treatment facilities, school districts, private schools, colleges and universities, among others.”
Basically, pretty much everybody with any kind of connection to Colorado’s state and local governments now serves as a potential gun-snitch for the state. Sleep with one eye open, comrades.
Earlier this month, Polis also signed House Bill 26-144 into law, which prohibits 3D-printing of firearms and firearm components.
Two more gun control measures remain in limbo.
The first is HB 26-1126, putting further restrictions on Colorado’s Federal Firearms License holders (FFLs). If it becomes law, FFL holders will need a second permit to simply transfer firearms from buyer to seller. It also includes expanded training requirements — i.e., pricey make-work for social workers — and imposes liabilities on an FFL’s employees. If that weren’t enough, there are additional paperwork and safety requirements.
The goal seems to be to get FFLs to close up shop, but Polis hasn’t yet signed or vetoed the measure.
My favorite might be House Bill 26-1302, also known as the Colorado Bureau of Investigation Firearms InstaCheck Unit Operating Hours Bill, which passed on April 14 and awaits Polis’s signature.
Sold as improving administrative efficiency, 26-1302 allows the CBI to start setting its own hours for processing background checks. Colorado uses a state-run point-of-contact system rather than having sellers contact the FBI directly. Currently the CBI worked a mandatory 12-hour daily minimum. While the bill requires an annual report to the assembly on efficiency and other matters, I can’t help but think that putting a few well-placed gun-grabbers at CBI to increase inefficiencies and create processing delays is the real goal.
That’s exactly what every other gun control measure passed these last few years has accomplished, so I’m not exactly being paranoid here.
Polis also hadn’t signed or vetoed the CBI bill, so my guess is that he’ll do one of two cowardly things with both CBI and FFL. He’ll either let the bills automatically become law in mid-June without his signature, or he’ll sign them in private — no press allowed — just like he did with last year’s atrocious Senate Bill 25-003 gun control measure.
I promised you some good news, so at long last here it is.
Assembly Republicans, with help from the Colorado State Shooting Association (CSSA), managed to stall on Senate Bill 26-043 long enough for the current legislative session to expire. The bill would have criminalized — that’s right, criminalized — the sale of gun barrels, unless the transaction was handled by an FFL in person and kept on state record.
Stalling out the barrel bill was no small feat, given how small the GOP caucus is. The state Senate is nearly two-to-one Dem, with the Donks holding 23 seats to the GOP’s 12. It’s even worse on the House side, where Democrats dominate by better than two-to-one, at 43-21. With numbers as weak as those, stalling is about the best Republicans can do.
And I have no doubt that Democrats will resurrect 26-043 or something very much like it, when the assembly reconvenes in January to see what additional offenses they can commit against our rights, our finances, and our common sense.
So there’s plenty of bad news, but the worst news might be that the one bright spot is almost destined to fade during the next legislative session.
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