A measure banning new magazines holding more than 15 rounds has cleared the Colorado House and is awaiting the governor’s signature.
On Wednesday, the Colorado legislature approved a package of four gun-control measures including a controversial ban on new ammunition magazines holding more than 15 rounds as well as those that could easily be converted to that size. The measure has been sent to the governor for his signature.
Colorado Governor John Hickenloooper (D), speaking on a local Denver radio station, said “he is not enthusiastic about the measure, but would sign it.”
The bill would make Colorado the first state outside of the East Coast to dial back gun rights after last year’s mass shootings, which included Sandy Hook and the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater massacre.
In a nation evenly divided over the gun-control issue, Colorado is being watched closely because of its history as both a western “gun-loving” state as well as being home to three deadly mass shootings. In 1999, there was the massacre at Columbine, followed in 2007 by the New Life Church shootings, and then last July’s Aurora movie theater rampage.
The sponsor of the measure, Representative Rhonda Fields (D) of Aurora, told lawmakers that her bill is about “saving lives.” Fields’ own son, Javad Marshall-Fields, was killed with his fiancé in 2005 in a targeted hail of gunfire one week before he was scheduled to appear in court to testify about a murder he had witnessed in Aurora.
Fields also told lawmakers that “these are weapons that should be used in a theater of war and not in our theaters,” referring to the Aurora movie theater shootings last year. Fields’ district includes the Aurora movie theater where those shootings occurred.
Meanwhile, parts of the gun-control bill have gone back for additional review in the state legislature on Thursday. Still pending is the measure regarding background checks for both private and online gun sales. Although Governor Hickenlooper has said he favors this measure and will sign off on it, a dispute regarding family exemptions has sent the measure back to lawmakers for revision.
Lawmakers from both parties are currently attempting to rework the bill so that gun owners could give guns to family members or lend them for short periods of time without triggering the newer, stricter background-check requirements. As currently written in the new bill, those purchasing firearms will be required to pay for their own background checks.
Also awaiting approval is a measure which would ban people convicted of domestic violence from being able to purchase firearms. The governor has said he is “undecided” on this part of the bill, stating that he would wait until seeing the final version before signing off on this part.
Most of us would agree that certain types of people in society should never be allowed to have guns. In the same vein, we must also agree and recognize that the overwhelming majority of gun owners in our country are responsible, law-abiding citizens. Most importantly, we must remember law-abiding, responsible gun owners were just as sickened and appalled at what happened at Newtown, Connecticut, and Aurora, Colorado, as non-gun owners.
http://www.gcnlive.com/wp/2013/03/15/high-capacity-magazine-ban-clears-colorado-legislature/
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