Colorado lawmakers are getting ready for a marathon meeting on Tuesday to talk about if they should stop selling and moving around a variety of semi-automatic guns here, a proposal that will probably pass its first vote and has gotten a lot of people who support and oppose it to sign up to speak.
The bill, HB24-1292, would stop the sale, buying, moving, bringing in and making of so-called “assault weapons” in Colorado. The plan's description of these guns includes semi-automatic rifles and pistols with fixed large-capacity magazines or that can use detachable magazines, along with several other types of powerful guns.
The plan is supported by Denver Democratic Reps. Tim Hernández and Elisabeth Epps. A similar plan didn't work last year in the House Judiciary Committee on the anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting.
The same committee will vote on the plan on Tuesday — but because more than 500 people have signed up to speak, the vote might not happen until early Wednesday morning.
But two of last year’s no votes are off of the committee, replaced by progressive legislators who are also supporting the plan. That gives the plan a good chance of moving out of the committee.
Epps and Hernández plan to make small changes to the plan about the moving and carrying of the weapons. If it passes on Tuesday, the plan would next go to the House Appropriations Committee before it goes to the House floor.
Hernández, a 27-year-old teacher and new lawmaker, started his opening comments to the House Judiciary Committee by talking about his life running alongside the steady beat of mass shootings in the United States, from Columbine in 1999 to Aurora and Sandy Hook in 2012 and the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting in 2019.
“I’ve been living with this my entire life, from 2009 to 2022,” Hernández said. “Nine out of 10 of the mass shooting incidents with the most casualties involve the use of at least one assault weapon. This has been happening my entire life. And, to be honest with you, I’m not waiting anymore.”
Many pro-gun activists protested outside of the Capitol on Tuesday morning. The committee room in the Capitol was full, with an overflow room set up somewhere else in the building. An audio livestream of the committee is available here.
Republicans are all against the plan, and pro-gun reform groups have promised to take the plan to court if it becomes a law.
At the start, Republicans asked questions about how often these guns are used in gun violence and Democrats responded by listing the mass shootings carried out with them because of their unique deadliness.
The plan is one of many gun reform proposals supported by legislative Democrats this year. Another proposal, to limit where guns can be carried in Colorado, is going to be discussed in the committee on Wednesday.
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