Law-abiding citizens must now wait until they are 21 to purchase a firearm, all are subject to a three-day waiting period, it is easier to pursue legal action against gun manufacturers, and the state’s “red flag” law was expanded.
Polis celebrated the occasion, telling the Colorado Sun that state residents “deserve to be safe in our communities, in our schools, our grocery stores, nightclubs and everywhere in between.”
House Minority Leader Mike Lynch (R) expressed his displeasure with the state’s move away from Second Amendment protections.
“Today, Colorado is less free and our citizens less safe and able to protect themselves. For Coloradans, it is a historically dark day — a day that many of our citizens, no matter their political party, thought impossible in their state.”
Lynch did not stop there, noting that the overwhelming majority of the state’s gun owners uphold the law. He decried Colorado’s stance as a bastion for anti-gun zealots, saying “this policy has never been successful and has been rejected in the past.”
An attempt to ban so-called “assault weapons” stalled last week when the House Judiciary Committee voted to postpone consideration of the measure indefinitely.
However, an effort to prohibit the manufacture and sale of so-called “ghost guns” is still making its way through the Colorado Senate.
Raising the minimum age to purchase a firearm to 21 aligned the state with California, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, New York, and Rhode Island.
A filibuster that attempted to derail the gun control effort only postponed the eventual outcome. Gun control proponents were successful in invoking a rule to cut off the debate.
As for Colorado’s red flag laws, those who may file are now expanded to include district attorneys, educators, medical care providers, and mental health providers. It has previously been limited primarily to family members and law enforcement.
Gun rights advocates charge state leaders ignored last year’s landmark Bruen decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. Taylor Rhodes, executive director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, declared that “gun owner’s rights are being ravaged in the Colorado legislature.”
Rhodes added that state lawmakers “will not be happy until all law-abiding gun owners are disarmed and only the criminals have guns.” The group has already filed suit challenging the mandatory waiting period and raising the legal age for firearm purchases to 21.
The bevy of new laws also overturned Colorado’s 2000 statute that provided a liability shield for gun manufacturers over misuse of legally purchased firearms. The industry still has protection at the federal level, but the state law change will make it easier to pursue legal action.
Colorado joined California, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York in attempting to open the gun industry to legal liability in recent years. This even though it is already one of the most heavily regulated sectors in the U.S.
Proponents of these rule changes hope to see more actions like last year’s lawsuit settlement by Remington. The company manufactured the rifle used in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre and settled with families of the victims for $73 million.
Lawyers for the families argued that the gunmaker targeted young males through product placements in video games.
Second Amendment advocates charge that these measures are enacted simply to cripple the weapons industry with burdensome and frivolous lawsuits.
The divide between states that respect Second Amendment liberties and those wishing to completely curtail gun rights is getting broader. There is a high likelihood that many more pivotal cases will make their way to the U.S. Supreme Court before they are settled.
