Colorado has been on a left-wing tear with new bills and laws in recent days. This includes a new law to ban semiautomatic rifles and create a de facto gun registry, setting the stage for further gun control efforts.
Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) signed into law a new ban on most semiautomatic rifles — with a notable carveout — that he says would save lives “while also protecting our Second Amendment rights.” The law bans the sale or purchase of a “specified semiautomatic firearm” starting on Aug. 1, with “specified semiautomatic firearm” including the following definitions: “A semiautomatic rifle or semiautomatic shotgun with a detachable magazine” and “a gas-operated semiautomatic handgun with a detachable magazine.”
The law would ban the sale and purchase of most semiautomatic rifles since the vast majority have detachable magazines. It is an “assault weapons” ban by another name. In the future, it won’t be a large jump to go from banning “gas-operated semiautomatic” handguns with detachable magazines to banning any semiautomatic handgun with a detachable magazine, which is the vast majority of handguns currently in use.
The law has a carveout for people who pass a state-sanctioned firearms safety course. People who pass will receive a “firearms safety course eligibility card,” which must be renewed every five years, but only with a sheriff’s authorization. Everyone who gets an eligibility card will have their information put into a state database that the law creates through Colorado Parks and Wildlife in consultation with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
COLORADO DEMOCRATS WANT TO MAKE ‘MISGENDERING’ ILLEGAL
So Colorado will not be keeping track of the sales of these now otherwise-banned firearms, but tracking everyone who applies for and receives state permission to purchase them accomplishes the same goal. It is a gun registry in practice, and it sets the stage for a future ban. The original bill, after all, did not include the possibility of safety training programs and an “eligibility card.” It was a straightforward ban that was watered down to ensure Polis would sign it.
Given that Colorado is only becoming more and more left-wing, rivaling the progressivism of California, it is clear that this law will only be a stepping stone for further gun control efforts. Colorado is looking to legislate and regulate guns out of circulation, one administrative ban at a time.