Ban on “assault” weapons is back as Colorado lawmakers target high-powered guns

Brendan Bialy, who was a friend of school shooting victim Kendrick Castillo, gives testimony via Zoom to the House Judiciary Committee on HB23-1230, the 2023 version of a ban on “assault” weapons, in the Old State Library at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver on April 19, 2023.

Colorado would ban the sale, transfer and importation of so-called assault weapons under a bill introduced Tuesday in the state House.

The measure, HB24-1292, is similar to legislation that a House committee killed last spring in its first hearing, but this year’s version may have better chances. The new bill would define assault weapons as including semi-automatic rifles and pistols with fixed large-capacity magazines or the ability to accept detachable magazines, along with several other types of high-powered firearms.

It would not ban the possession of the weapons but would prohibit the “manufacturing, importing, purchasing, selling, offering to sell or transferring” of them, with exemptions for police and the military. It also would prohibit the possession of rapid-fire trigger activators.

The bill is sponsored by Reps. Tim Hernandez and Elisabeth Epps, both Denver Democrats. Epps sponsored last year’s similar bill. The new version is backed by 14 other members of the House Democrats’ 47-member caucus, including Rep. Jennifer Bacon, the House’s assistant majority leader, and Rep. Chris deGruy Kennedy, the chamber’s speaker pro tempore.

The measure explicitly links its intended ban to the ubiquitous use of semi-automatic rifles in high-profile mass shootings, including several in Colorado — among them the Columbine High School, Aurora movie theater, Boulder King Soopers and Club Q attacks.

“Well-known places that should have only ever been known as sites safe for joy, learning, commerce and care are instead forever associated with (the) tragedy of mass shootings perpetrated by weapons which should never have been available for use,” the bill states.

The bill is likely to spark a fierce backlash from Republican legislators and their allies outside the Capitol.

Its filing comes as Democratic lawmakers embrace gun-reform bills this year, seizing on their growing majorities in the House and Senate and responding to allied groups that have demanded more action.

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Similar attempts have failed in the past, with the 2023 version of the bill dying last April in the House Judiciary Committee after three Democrats joined with the committee’s Republicans to sink it.

But there’s reason to think this year will be different, at least in the House: Two of last year’s three Democratic “no” votes are no longer on the committee and have been replaced by legislators who are co-sponsoring this year’s bill.

Gov. Jared Polis has been reported to be skeptical of the measure. That means the proposed ban’s ultimate passage — should it clear the House — remains in doubt, even amid historic Democratic majorities in the Capitol. Polis’ office did not directly respond when asked by The Denver Post about the bill earlier this month.

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