Colorado’s latest 'assault' weapons ban made it further than ever, but it’s now set to be shelved

Julie Gonzales, D- Denver, spoke to the media supporting a package of bills to protect abortion and reproductive rights during a news conference in the West Foyer at the Colorado State Capitol on March 9, 2023, in Denver.

DENVER — A Colorado bill to ban the sale, transfer and manufacturing of many high-powered, semi-automatic firearms is set to die Tuesday amid opposition in the state Senate, a month after the measure passed a historic vote in the House.

Sen. Julie Gonzales, the bill’s Senate sponsor, announced in a statement Monday that she would shelve the bill voluntarily during a committee hearing Tuesday, the penultimate day of the legislative session. The Denver Democrat said she wanted to continue conversations around the policy in the coming months, “outside the pressure cooker of the Capitol during the last weeks of the legislative session.”

House Bill 1292 targeted guns referred to as “assault weapons” by sponsors. The bill defines the term as encompassing high-powered, semi-automatic firearms capable of accepting a detachable magazine and certain other accessories, or which have a fixed high-capacity magazine. It also would ban rapid-fire trigger activators.

The measure has advanced further in the Capitol than any previous iteration of the bill.

Its backers pitched the policy as a response to the drumbeat of mass shootings that have plagued Colorado and other states for decades. The bill passed the House in mid-April and moved to the Senate, where it was assigned to the chamber’s State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.

The committee has a 3-2 Democratic majority, but the likely swing vote, Democratic Sen. Tom Sullivan of Centennial, repeatedly has expressed skepticism about the policy. Sullivan, whose son, Alex, was killed in the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting, has said he doesn’t think the ban would be as effective as other gun restrictions.

In an interview late Monday afternoon, Gonzales would not say whether she thought the legislation was going to die naturally, via a failing vote in committee or on the Senate floor. She also did not name Sullivan, though she’s said she has had extensive conversations with fellow lawmakers about the bill since she agreed to sponsor it six weeks ago.

Gonzales reiterated her support for the policy.

“I actually think this was the hardest thing to do,” she said of voluntarily shelving it. “Because I want this (expletive) thing to pass.”

The measure was one of several gun-reform bills backed by Democrats this session. Nearly all of them have passed and are awaiting Gov. Jared Polis’ signature.

The ban was sponsored in the House by Denver Democratic Reps. Tim Hernández and Elisabeth Epps. Epps supported a similar policy last year, but that bill died in its first committee vote.

On social media, Republicans and the gun-rights group Rocky Mountain Gun Owners claimed victory and celebrated the bill’s defeat. The group had pledged to file a lawsuit should the bill pass into law.

Still, the Senate is controlled by Democrats, and the bill’s demise shows that, despite a growing embrace of gun-reform policies in the Capitol, Democratic lawmakers haven’t found common ground on more sweeping approaches to curbing gun violence.

Polis, also a Democrat, has repeatedly voiced skepticism of a ban.

Hernández told The Denver Post that he was proud the bill passed the House. If he wins a new term, he said, he will bring a similar bill back next year. Asked why the bill had to be shelved, he would say only that “folks aren’t ready.”

“That’s what it boils down to,” he said.

Hernández praised Epps and Gonzales, though he said he wished the bill had received a full committee hearing in the Senate. Because Gonzales plans to voluntarily table it, the committee likely won’t take testimony from witnesses and instead will vote swiftly to kill the measure.

Still, Hernández said of considering an assault weapons ban, “I also understand that this will not be the last time for us to do that.”

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