A bill banning semi-automatic rifles and shotguns with detachable magazines is making its way through the Colorado legislature. The bill was introduced and sponsored by Sen. Tom Sullivan, a Democrat representing Aurora and the father of a victim of the 2012 Aurora movie theater mass shooting.
SB25-003, as it is called, or Senate Bill 3, was heard in the Senate committee on State, Veterans & Military Affairs on Sunday. After a nine-hour hearing in which hundreds arrived at the state Capitol to testify, it was voted on and passed by a party-line vote of 3-2.
Although the bill still has a long way to go and several more rounds of voting to become law, the debate surrounding it has been intense.
Critics of the legislation say that the bill is unconstitutional as it restricts Second Amendment rights defined in the Constitution. Others say that Coloradans need these types of weapons to defend their homes, citing since debunked claims that a Venezuelan gang, Tren De Aragua, is “taking over apartment buildings” and raiding homes with squads of armed gangsters.
However, supporters of the bill say that the legislation would help reduce mass shootings and would not hinder Coloradans’ ability to defend themselves.
The bill would help enforce another piece of gun legislation that was signed into law in 2013 that banned “high-capacity” magazines which could hold more than 15 bullets. The bill’s supporters say that those illegal clips which were banned in 2013 are still being used because the guns which use them are still available.
Under the bill, semi-automatic rifles with a “fixed magazine” of under 15 rounds will still be allowed. Loading a gun with a fixed magazine is a considerably longer process than just switching magazines, as the user must fit each bullet into the magazine one at a time.
SB25-003 does specify that any Colorado AR owner can retrofit a permanently fixed magazine onto their AR to make it legal and comply with the law without selling their weapon.
Also, any gas-operated pistol that accepts a detachable magazine would be banned under the law. As defined in the current version of the bill’s text, “gas operated” means “any semi-automatic handgun that harnesses or traps a portion of the high-pressure gas from a fired cartridge to cycle the action.”
In other words, gas-operated means a gun that automatically loads a new bullet.
SB25-003 would, therefore, outlaw many popular “AR pistols,” or pistols that have been augmented to act like assault rifles, that also are built to accept and fire high-capacity magazines.
Unfortunately for gun lovers, the same weapons that would be banned under the law are some of the most popular guns around Colorado.
Many critics also say that if passed, SB25-003 would be immediately sued and struck down by the Supreme Court. While the Supreme Court has seemed more antagonistic to gun legislation in recent years, there’s some reason to expect things could change.
In a 2022 decision, the court struck down a New York law to enact a permitting system for concealed carry permits, remarking that any gun legislation has to have a historical comparison to the country’s founding. However, in June, the court upheld a 1994 federal law banning people with domestic restraining orders from owning firearms.
States are still trying to figure out how to interpret these Supreme Court’s decisions, but one sponsor of SB 003, Sen. Julie Gonzales, said she believes the bill would withstand legal challenges.
“The fact that gun manufacturers can easily bring firearms into compliance will help this bill withstand the Second Amendment challenge,” said Gonzales.
