Senate Bill 25-003 passed the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs committee late in the evening on January 28. The bill “prohibits the manufacture, distribution, transfer, sale, or purchase of certain semiautomatic firearms and classifies rapid-fire devices as dangerous weapons.” It passed on a party-line vote. The bill will now advance to the senate floor for consideration.
The proposed penalty for violation of this legislation is a class two misdemeanor or a class six felony for subsequent violations. Colorado State Senate Democrats say that the bill does not impact the possession of currently-owned firearms.
According to FOX31, the bill will help to enforce laws “prohibiting the sale, transfer or possession of high-capacity magazines that hold more than 15 rounds,” which were created after the Aurora theater shooting, in 2013. A prime sponsor of the bill, Senator Tom Sullivan, joined the Legislature after his son was killed in said shooting.
This is the third time in three years that Democratic lawmakers have attempted to pass a bill that would ban the sale and manufacture of certain types of firearms, according to Colorado Newsline. Denver Senator Julie Gonzales, a supporter of the bill, said that people would still be able to buy an assault-style weapon “as long as it has a fixed magazine and cannot be modified with high-capacity magazines that are illegal.”
