CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Colorado Senate Bill 3: Gun licensing scheme much broader than claimed.
The Colorado legislature is close to final passage of Senate Bill 25-003, to impose one of the most restrictive licensing systems in the nation on many, but not all firearms. Legislators and the public should understand that the bill would apply to all semiautomatic centerfire handguns. The kinds of handguns that Coloradans typically choose—from companies such as Glock, Ruger, or Smith & Wesson—would become much more onerous to purchase.
Senate Bill 3 seems cunningly written. It purports to apply only to the “gas-operated semiautomatic handgun.” (p. 4). The bill then provides five types of gas operation. Cumulatively, the definitions cover almost every centerfire semiautomatic handgun.
The bill does not apply to semiautomatics that fire the puny .22 rimfire cartridge.
There is only one centerfire semiautomatic handgun model that does not fall within the bill’s definitions. That unique item is the Benelli B-80, a collector’s item last manufactured in 1990. The identical gun was produced in six different calibers, model numbers 76 through 82.
As for every other model of semiautomatic pistol, Coloradans will be forced to navigate their way through one of the most onerous systems in the nation, far exceeding even California’s.
The new system includes three additional fees on top of the ones already charged to firearms purchasers in Colorado, and none of those fees are capped. Unlike Colorado’s system for issuing handgun carry licenses, no government official has any obligation to make a decision on an application within a time frame.
That’s a whole lot of infringement.
