The Colorado Legislature this week passed what could be that state’s most sweeping gun ban ever – on numerous semiautomatic rifles, shotguns and pistols.
Wyoming gun rights advocates had been closely watching the progress of Colorado’s Senate Bill 3.
It cleared the Colorado Senate on Tuesday by a vote of 19-15 and is expected to soon be signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis. Once signed, it will take effect in September.
The Senate vote was split along party lines. All of the chamber’s Republicans voted against it. Only three Democrats broke party ranks and voted with them.
That should come as no surprise, Aaron Dorr, policy advisor for Wyoming Gun Owners, told Cowboy State Daily,
“I think it’s a good reminder of what happens when the Democrats get control,” Dorr said.
‘Assault Weapons’ Ban
Colorado has seen numerous mass shootings, including the horrific 2012 mass murder in an Aurora movie theater.
The Aurora shooter used an AR-15 rifle, similar to weapons used in other high-profile mass killings in Colorado and other states.
Those shootings have prompted a push to ban AR-15s and other semiautomatic rifles with high-capacity magazines. They have been commonly called “assault rifles,” although that really isn’t an accurate term.
Assault rifle bans have previously been floated in Colorado. Such a measure gained traction in the state’s legislature last year. It drew hundreds of pro-gun protestors to the state capitol, and ultimately failed.
SB 3 went beyond just rifles, however, proposing a ban on numerous semi-automatic firearms – including many pistols and shotguns.
Wyomingites previously told Cowboy State Daily that had chilling implications, including possible ban on popular duck hunting shotguns.
Softened Up
SB 3 initially called for a ban of virtually any semiautomatic firearm with a “detachable magazine.”
But as it moved through the legislature, it was softened up with some amendments, including exceptions for some vintage firearms such as WWII-era semiautomatic M1 carbines.
Further amendments also allow for hunters to keep buying some semiautomatic firearms, such as shotguns.
Semiautomatic shotguns have become extremely popular among waterfowl hunters, for instance, because they soften the recoil of heavy duck and goose loads and allow for quicker follow-up shots.
Under SB 3, hunters who want to use semiautomatics must complete a hunter education course, as well as a basic firearms safety course.
Within five years of purchase, they must also complete an extended safety course. That includes lessons in such things as safe gun storage and “victim awareness and empathy,” according to the bill.
Wyoming Must ‘Expand Freedom’
For now, SB 3 doesn’t appear to be a threat to gun rights in Wyoming, Dorr said.
But Wyomingites should still pay keen attention to what’s going on south of their state line, and not grow complacent, he added.
“We have to go as far as we can to expand gun freedom in a state like Wyoming,” he said.
Dorr supports a bill currently before the Wyoming Legislature that would eliminate gun-free zones here.
That bill also has numerous opponents, who argue that Wyoming’s current system strikes a fair balance between people’s right to carry firearms in most of the state – while maintaining gun-free policies in places such as public schools and the state Capitol building.
As to whether Colorado’s SB 3 will be challenged on a Second Amendment basis, Dorr said that remains uncertain.
But “all major gun control bills are being challenged” across the country, he added.
Those challenges are based mostly upon the U.S. Supreme Court’s Bruen Decision in 2022, he said.
Prior to that decision, judges evaluated gun control measures according to the history, tradition and text of the Second Amendment. And, by whether any proposed restrictions served public interests.
The Bruen decision added a third factor. That being, whether any regulation has ties to what the high court deemed “the historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
That’s key, because unless a restriction has an “historical analog,” then it likely won’t stand up to a challenge in court, Dorr said, and SB 3 might not pass that test.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
