Colorado House passes assault weapons ban bill

The Colorado House of Representatives passed a bill on Sunday that would ban the sale or purchase of so-called assault weapons in the state.

​​House Bill 24-1292 – which passed third reading in the Democratic-controlled chamber on a 35-to-27 vote – now heads for consideration in the Senate, where it’s unclear the level of support it will have in the upper chamber that’s also controlled by Democrats.

The legislation defines assault weapons as .50 caliber rifles, semi-automatic rifles and pistols with detachable magazines, or ones that can be modified to include one, and semi-automatic rifles or pistols with fixed, large-capacity magazines.

“We need a federal [assault weapons] ban, but we’re not going to wait for the federal government to save us anymore then we have to,” Rep. Elisabeth Epps, D-Denver, and one of the bill sponsors, told her House colleagues on Sunday. “State bans work.”

A similar bill last session, also introduced by Epps, failed in the House Judiciary Committee.

According to Rep. Ryan Armagost, R-Berthoud, the ban would cover 80% of modern firearms and would collapse the market for firearms in the state.

“I think the biggest thing this bill produces is an overwhelming burden, an overwhelming restriction, on law-abiding gun owners,” he said.