{"id":23628,"date":"2025-02-07T11:35:12","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T18:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-gun-ban-bill-loses-democratic-backer\/"},"modified":"2025-02-07T18:35:12","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T18:35:12","slug":"colorado-gun-ban-bill-loses-democratic-backer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-gun-ban-bill-loses-democratic-backer\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado gun ban bill loses Democratic backer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Colorado Legislature is considering a bill that would ban the manufacture, purchase and sale of semiautomatic rifles and shotguns that are capable of accepting detachable ammunition magazines, as well as some semiautomatic pistols and handguns. (Jesse Paul\/The Colorado Sun)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

A Democratic state senator who signed on as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 3, which would ban the manufacture and sale of certain semiautomatic rifles, shotguns and handguns that can accept detachable ammunition magazines, says he will vote against the measure.<\/p>\n

Sen. Marc Snyder of Manitou Springs said he didn\u2019t fully understand its effect when he agreed to attach his name to it.<\/p>\n

Snyder\u2019s reversal doesn\u2019t mean the legislation won\u2019t pass. It still has enough supporters in the Senate to clear the chamber, barring more than one other defection. The bill is scheduled to get a preliminary vote in the Senate on Friday.<\/p>\n

But it highlights the shifting political ground beneath Senate Bill 3, which would represent one of the biggest changes to Colorado gun policy in state history.<\/p>\n

Of the 23 Democrats in the chamber, 19 have either verbally committed to voting \u201cyes\u201d on the bill when asked by The Sun or have signaled they will support it by serving as cosponsors.<\/p>\n

Two Democrats \u2013 Snyder and Sen. Nick Hinrichsen of Pueblo \u2013 say they can\u2019t vote for the measure as is, while two more \u2013 Sens. Dylan Roberts and Kyle Mullica \u2013 haven\u2019t said how they will vote on the legislation.<\/p>\n

All 12 Republicans in the Senate are expected to vote against Senate Bill 3.<\/p>\n

It takes 18 votes to pass a bill out of the Senate.<\/p>\n

One of the bill\u2019s lead sponsors, Centennial Democrat Sen. Tom Sullivan, was confident Wednesday morning that the bill will hold onto enough support to pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gotten assurances,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna stick together through this and move it on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sullivan also said he is available to answer his colleagues\u2019 questions to clear up any confusion about the bill, especially from Snyder.<\/p>\n

The other Senate cosponsors of the bill are Judy Amabile, Jeff Bridges, Lisa Cutter, Jessie Danielson, Lindsey Daugherty, Tony Exum, Sonya Jaquez Lewis, Cathy Kipp, Chris Kolker, Iman Jodeh, Janice Marchman, Dafna Michaelson Jenet, Robert Rodriguez, Mike Weissman and Faith Winter. Sen. Julie Gonzales is a lead sponsor alongside Sullivan.<\/p>\n

Snyder on Tuesday told The Colorado Sun that when he signed onto the bill he thought it was solely aimed at enforcing the state\u2019s 2013 ban on ammunition magazines capable of holding more than 15 rounds. As written, he said, the measure is more of a \u201cde facto ban.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just can\u2019t vote for that bill,\u201d he said, explaining that his constituents in El Paso County overwhelmingly oppose firearms bans.<\/p>\n

Hinrichsen said while he supports the parts of the measure banning devices that can make semiautomatic weapons fire at a rate similar to an automatic weapon, he opposes the parts that would ban the manufacture and sale of certain semiautomatic rifles, shotguns and handguns that can accept detachable ammunition magazines.<\/p>\n

\"Then-Rep.
Then-Rep. Marc Snyder, left, on the first day of Colorado\u2019s 2024 legislative session Jan. 10, 2024, at the Colorado Capitol. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI believe that, broadly, semiautomatic firearm ownership by law-abiding individuals is protected by the Second Amendment,\u201d he wrote in a statement. \u201cI also have very little confidence that this provision would decrease the amount of casualties in a mass shooting. \u2026 Given the precedent set by the Bruen decision, I also have some doubts that the Supreme Court would uphold this component of the bill, were it to go into effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two other Democrats in the chamber, Senate President James Coleman and Sen. Matt Ball, both of Denver, aren\u2019t cosponsors of the bill but told The Colorado Sun they will vote \u201cyes\u201d on the measure.<\/p>\n

Roberts said in a text message that he hasn\u2019t decided yet how he will vote on the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWaiting to see what\/if any amendments might be coming and a better indication on (the governor\u2019s) position,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mullica hasn\u2019t publicly said how he will vote on the bill.<\/p>\n

Coleman said there are efforts underway to alleviate members\u2019 confusion and concerns around the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had, over the past week, a lot of conversations with all of our members to talk about the bill \u2013 what the bill does, what its impact is,\u201d he said Wednesday. \u201cI\u2019ve been there for those and so I know members have gotten their questions answered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coleman is also preparing for a long day of floor debate Friday after conversations with Senate Republicans.<\/p>\n

The Senate GOP caucus plans to fight the measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will fight to defend Coloradans\u2019 rights, the Constitution and public safety,\u201d said Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, R-Monument.<\/p>\n

Gov. Jared Polis hasn\u2019t said whether he would sign the bill if it makes it to his desk.<\/p>\n

Polis told The Sun last month that while a ban on the manufacture and sale of certain semiautomatic firearms with a removable ammunition magazine isn\u2019t his preferred method of tackling gun violence, he\u2019s not fundamentally opposed to the idea.<\/p>\n

Polis said he thinks the state\u2019s focus \u201cshould be on guns used in crime,\u201d which is why his priority firearm bill at the Capitol this year targets stolen weapons. But he\u2019s not uniformly opposed to the bill since it does not prohibit the possession of any guns and thus wouldn\u2019t affect weapons people already own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not entirely sure why the Legislature wants to play around with different gun models,\u201d he said. \u201cCertainly always a red line for me has been don\u2019t affect things that people already have. This proposal obviously clears that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The governor said in deciding whether to sign or veto the bill he wants \u201cto make sure it doesn\u2019t interfere with legal, law-abiding gun owners in our state for hunting, for home defense or sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Polis said: \u201cThe governor will continue to review the bill as it moves through the process and changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Should Senate Bill 3 pass the Senate, it would then head to the House, the Legislature\u2019s more progressive chamber, where it is expected to pass.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sen. Marc Snyder says he won\u2019t vote \u2018yes\u2019 on the bill<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-23628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23628"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=23628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}