{"id":35767,"date":"2023-02-14T10:13:50","date_gmt":"2023-02-14T17:13:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/counties-could-further-regulate-where-people-can-shoot-guns-under-colorado-bill\/"},"modified":"2023-02-14T17:13:50","modified_gmt":"2023-02-14T17:13:50","slug":"counties-could-further-regulate-where-people-can-shoot-guns-under-colorado-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/counties-could-further-regulate-where-people-can-shoot-guns-under-colorado-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Counties could further regulate where people can shoot guns under Colorado bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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The Colorado House of Representatives debated a bill Monday that would let counties prohibit people from firing weapons in certain unincorporated areas, with lengthy opposition from Republicans over Second Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany communities in unincorporated parts of the county have an activity going on that is unsafe for the residents,\u201d bill sponsor Rep. Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat, said on the House floor Monday afternoon. \u201cJust like if you live in Denver or if you live in Boulder or Colorado Springs \u2026 you can\u2019t discharge a firearm in your backyard. You\u2019re just not allowed to do that. Some counties would like to be able to do that in some dense neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n

House Bill 23-1165<\/a> would lift a state preemption that prevents a county from limiting firearm discharge in unincorporated areas. It would allow counties to regulate the activity on private property in areas where the density reaches 35 dwellings per square mile. Currently, counties can adopt ordinances on firearm discharge for areas with at least 100 people per square mile.<\/p>\n

Amabile said she doesn\u2019t expect many counties to actually use the new legislation if passed, but the counties she represents are in favor of it because of an increase in sound and safety complaints. It would give local governments more control.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very permissive bill,\u201d said co-sponsor Rep. Karen McCormick, also a Democrat from Boulder. \u201cIt will allow counties that are having their residents ask for help to have this tool in their toolbox. Counties that are not having issues in this space will not have to do anything. Each county would be able to write the rules and regulations as they see fit. And then it will be up to those counties and county sheriffs to apply any enforcement mechanisms that they see fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

A floor amendment that passed Monday would allow people to hunt, use an existing shooting range and manage wildlife and livestock on their private property. Republican lawmakers praised the amendment as an attempt to bridge the divide between urban and rural interests in the Capitol.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s enough, but it\u2019s a right step,\u201d Republican Rep. Richard Holtorf of Akron said.<\/p>\n

Another amendment says that county commissioners may seek advice from local sheriffs about shooting restrictions they\u2019re considering under the bill.<\/p>\n

Overall, however, Republicans were opposed to the bill for how it could regulate activity in rural Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith everything that\u2019s going on in the city, people are moving out to rural Colorado where it is peaceful and quiet,\u201d said Rep. Ty Winter, a Republican of Pueblo County. \u201cBut that\u2019s the whole crux of it \u2013 people are moving to rural Colorado and then they are changing the way we live our lives, our heritage and the way we live our lives there.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he was concerned the bill could be just the first step in restraining the Second Amendment.<\/p>\n

Republicans also argued whether a firearm discharge regulation could be enforceable, since someone who shoots a gun on a potentially prohibited property could then claim they were targeting a coyote or other predator.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not our job to add more laws to the books that are not enforceable and add a quandary for our law enforcement, our sheriffs and our commissioners out there,\u201d Republican Rep. Anthony Hartsook of Parker said.<\/p>\n

The bill won preliminary approval Monday during second reading but ended up getting laid over one day.<\/p>\n

Several highly anticipated firearm-related bills, including an assault weapons purchase ban and a bill that would allow people to sue gun manufacturers<\/a>, have been hinted at but not yet introduced.<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Newsline, visit www.coloradonewsline.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

23-1165 would lift state preemption preventing counties from limiting firearm discharge in unincorporated areas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[394,150,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-35767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-legislature","tag-firearms","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35767","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=35767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35767"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=35767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}