Final steps to passage: House to vote on bill limiting semi-auto firearm sales
The Colorado House will vote Thursday on Senate Bill 25-003, a controversial piece of legislation looking to restrict the sale of certain firearms in the state.
This will be one of the last steps to passage for the legislation, which passed out of the House Appropriations Committee Tuesday on a party-line vote. All seven Democrats voted in favor.
Senate Bill 25-003 originally banned the sale or purchase of any semi-automatic rifles, shotguns or gas-operated handguns that take detachable magazines, exempting firearms with “permanently fixed” magazines.
After the amendment process, the legislation would still ban the purchase or sale of the applicable semi-automatic weapons, but the bill now creates exemptions for individuals who have a hunting license and take a firearm safety course.
The bill’s primary sponsor in the House, Representative Andrew Boesenecker, D-Fort Collins, said during committee testimony that the bill takes “meaningful action” to address gun violence.
The Colorado State Shooting Association, the official state association of the National Rifle Association, has been advocating against the bill since it was first proposed.
“Senate Bill 3 makes buying a semi-automatic rifle or shotgun — your go-tos for self-defense, hunting, or sport — more burdensome than acquiring a machine gun under federal law,” Ava Flanell, vice president of legislative engagement at CSSA, said in a statement. “This bill punishes law-abiding Coloradans.”
Huey Laugesen, executive director of the CSSA, said that the association plans to take the bill to court if it is signed into law.
Republican lawmakers in Colorado have also expressed concerns with the legislation, proposing amendments and voting against it as it has made its way through the state Senate and now the state House.
State Representative Ryan Armagost recently labeled the bill the “worst piece of legislation in Colorado history.”
Despite backlash, the bill is expected to become law. Democrats control the state House 43 to 22, as well as the governorship.
