The Colorado senate gave preliminary approval to 5 anti-gunowner bills while shelving 2. But it's not a done deal; on Monday they'll take up the 5 remaining bills for a recorded vote. If the house bills pass they'll go to the governor for a signature. The bills that originated in the senate will, if passed on Monday, be sent to the house for 3 readings plus committee hearings.
HB 1224, the magazine capacity bill, was amended. The limit for shotguns was changed from 8 shells to "28 inches of shotgun shells". I think that covers all known extensions for tube fed shotguns, but it could be that someone makes a full length extension for a 30" barreled pump. There were some other amendments which you can see in this .pdf of the bill. Near as I can tell a detachable shotgun mag can't hold over 8 rounds if it's combined with a fixed magazine. Yes, I did a mental double take on that one as well. And by inserting language making sure Colorado manufacturers were exempt, I do believe they made it a prohibited act under this bill to drive a truckload of magazines through Colorado even without stopping.
Since this bill was so heavily amended, I'd imagine there'd have to be some reconciliation twixt the senate and the house before it headed to the governors desk. That's if it passes the senate.
SB 197, the "baby lautenberg" bill, passed the 2nd reading, but nto before, according to the Denver Post, it "renewed" talk of a war on women by the left. It didn't renew it; it highlighted it.
SB 195, which bans online concealed handgun permit training, passed after about 20 minutes of debate. It was amended to allow some, but not all, of the course to be done online.
SB 196, the "assault weapons" liability bill, got pulled by its sponsor public servant Morse, but not before he gave a nasty little speech condemning the evil gun lobby. Some select quotes from that speech are in this article, but they don't give the full flavor by themselves. From the player embedded in the article you can find his rant at the 12:38:01 mark.
HB 1229, the universal background check bill, was passed. It had a lengthy debate and I think that it was the centerpiece of the agenda as far as Obama, Bloomberg, etc. are concerned. Not that the other bills aren't bad, but this one could help pave the way for a similar national effort. According to David Kopel, and double checked by Colorado Peak Politics, language in the Colorado bill was taken verbatim from federal legislation introduced this year by Carolyn McCarthy. (I suppose the Colorado sponsors thought it'd go unnoticed once they removed the 'shoulder thing that goes up" language, but they weren't slick enough)
HB 1228, the tax on background checks bill, passed.
HB 1226, the ban on college carry, was withdrawn by its sponsor, but not before public servant Heath read off a list of downright dishonest statistics, insults, injury, calumny and slander towards the idea of armed self defense. The linked article again does not do his rant justice. I'm thinking they picked the less fantastic remarks instead of publishing that he said guns are used 4 times more in accidental shootings than in self defense, among other absurdities. In the embedded player you can listen to his screed at the 12:27:01 mark.
The bills that were withdrawn were done so using a common method - the bills are postponed (i.e. "laid over") until a date that occurs after the legislature adjourns its regular session, in this case May 10th. The last day of the legislative session will be May 9th, so the bills postponed to that date will never be voted on, in effect killing them.
Let me reiterate - it ain't over. The 5 bills that passed the 2nd reading yesterday will be read for a 3rd time and given a recorded vote on Monday. Even after that there'll be a chance to stop them either in the house or at the governor's desk.
Bloomberg's lobbyist, Adam "machine gun" Eichberg, was running around toting carpetbags with horseheads in them lobbying up a storm. He wouldn't be doing that if votes weren't in doubt. Two bills were withdrawn because they didn't have the votes to pass them. They'll try to spin it as being "reasonable", and further they'll claim that those bills weren't voted down (because they were withdrawn before a vote could be cast), but they did not have the votes to pass them.
They're getting a lot of pressure from NYC and DC, but they also are starting to feel 2014 looming:
"Tochtrop, a Second Amendment rights lawmaker who earlier announced she opposed five of the seven gun bills, made it clear she didn't consider her bill part of the Democrats' gun package. Afterward, she said she worried about the impact of the proposals on Democrats in 2014.
'I feel like all these gun bills have done — to quote the last words in the movie 'Tora! Tora ! Tora!' — is to awaken a sleeping giant,' she said."
There's already spin attempting to downplay the opponents of these bills:
“Not only do they not represent the middle, I don’t think they represent the Republican party. I don’t think they represent a large number of people,' said Gov. Hickenlooper."
He was referring to the protestors outside the capitol. The hundreds who showed up to protest these anti-gunowner bills, not the dozens who showed up to support them.
Hickenlooper doesn't think this could cost him his re-election. And it may not - it all depends if a recall could take place before November of 2014 or not.
The point is, call, write, email, fax, send carrier pigeon, use interpretive dance - anything - to make sure your senator knows you want opposition to all the gun owner control bills. If you're out of state make sure the governor's office knows your tourist and business dollars won't go to an anti-gunowner state, and these bills would make Colorado anti-gunowner.
Monday in the senate here will be an important step, but not the final one.
As Mr. Kravitz said...
Posted by Publicola at March 9, 2013 07:11 AM | TrackBack