County Commissioners: New Senate Bill Is Completely Unconstitutional
Trevor Phipps
The Colorado state legislature has kicked off the new year, with a volley of political gunfire by refueling their effort to ban guns.
The 2025 session, which started several weeks ago, has already ignited sparks with a new version of a controversial assault weapon ban that hit the floor on the lawmakers very first day of business. The lawmakers’ aggressive approach towards gun control has local officials fuming and already announcing plans for a town hall meeting to possibly fight back.
At first, many thought that the new bill proposing to ban the sale of certain firearms wouldn’t make it very far and would experience an early death. But that hasn’t been the case. Over the last couple of weeks Senate Bill 25-003, called “Semiautomatic Firearms & Rapid-Fire Devices,” has gained some traction and currently is supported by a number of sponsors.
Overall, the bill is aimed at banning the sale and purchase of all weapons that have detachable magazines. The bill also bans rapid-fire trigger activators and bump stocks that can make a semiautomatic weapon fire like a machine gun.
“The bill defines a ‘specified semiautomatic firearm’ as a semiautomatic rifle or semiautomatic shotgun with a detachable magazine or a gas-operated semiautomatic handgun with a detachable magazine,” the bill summary states. “The bill prohibits knowingly manufacturing, distributing, transferring, selling, or purchasing a specified semiautomatic firearm; except that a person may transfer a specified semiautomatic firearm to an heir, an individual residing in another state, or a federally licensed firearm dealer.”
Although possessing a weapon with a detachable magazine would still be technically legal, as of September 1, the sale or purchase of those firearms would be banned if the bill is passed. People violating the law for the first time could be charged with a class two misdemeanor offense, which is punishable by jail time and a fine. More than one offense would constitute a class six felony and prison time could be given.
Other attempts to ban assault weapons have failed in the past, but this one could gain more emotional support. The bill’s main sponsor is State Senator Tom Sullivan whose son was murdered in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting. So far, the bill has 18 original cosponsors, encompassing all but five of the Democratic senators in the chamber.
The bill only needs 18 votes to pass in the Senate and it is likely to pass in the state House as well. The bill currently has 24 original cosponsors that hold seats in the state House of Representatives. Experts say this particular bill has a good chance to make it to Colorado Governor Jared Polis’s desk.
“It’s a high-capacity magazine enforcement bill,” Sen. Sullivan said, according to the Colorado Sun. “We passed that legislation in 2013. We’ve had 11 years since then. We haven’t gotten buy-in from the industry — they continue to ship high-capacity magazines into the state. We haven’t gotten the buy-in from retailers, hobbyists. This is the next step to the enforcement.”
Teller County Commissioners Plan to Staunchly Oppose the Bill
Among the many government officials (mainly Republicans), who have already spoken out against the bill, the Teller County commissioners have said they plan to testify against it at the state capitol and do everything possible to kill the legislation. The main problem most see, with the proposed legislation, is that it would ban the sale and purchase of the majority of the firearms that people want to buy.
“It would ban 95 percent of the firearms that people buy,” Teller County Commissioner Erik Stone said. “It essentially bans about 97 percent of pistols that are sold. And for rifles it’s probably 80 to 85 percent of all rifles that are sold that are semi-automatic.”
Stone said he plans to personally go to Denver and testify against the bill. While joining the massive protest against this effort, Stone believes that the ban will eventually fail because it is unconstitutional.
“If it does pass (which I would be surprised if it did), it would obviously be immediately taken to court because there are other much less severe bans that are already being considered by courts around the country to determine whether or not they are constitutional,” Stone said. “I think most of those are likely headed to rulings showing that they are unconstitutional.”
Stone said that another problem with the bill is the fact that the guns with detachable magazine are not being banned outright. As a result, it would still be legal for people to possess them if they were purchased before the law went into effect. Stone said that since there is no gun registration laws in the state of Colorado, it would be difficult to prove when the gun was purchased. Therefore, it would make the law hard to enforce.
But Stone fears that this first bill could just be the beginning of a slew of gun control laws yet to come with the Democratic lawmakers. Although the Dems lost a couple of key legislative seats in the Nov. election and fell short of gaining a super-majority, they still hold a strong majority in the state legislature.
“It’s probably likely you will see additional legislation coming just because this is the Colorado legislature we are talking about here,” Stone said. “I wouldn’t put it past them to do all kinds of things. They passed several anti-gun bills last year including what I believe was an unconstitutional tax on firearms.”
The anti-gun sentiment in the state Capitol is once again attracting local attention, with a call for a town hall gathering to address the situation, sponsored by the Teller Rifles organization.
On January 27, County Commissioner Dan Williams and Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell are holding a town hall meeting at the Cripple Creek Heritage Center starting at 5 p.m. This forum will discuss existing and future Colorado gun laws and actions residents can take to counter-act the prevailing anti-gun sentiment at the state capitol.