NRA-ILA | Colorado: Senate’s Anti-Gun Majority Unveil Gun Control Package

Colorado lawmakers are wasting little time going after lawful gun owners and gun industry members in 2023. Please contact your legislators now and ask them to OPPOSE ALL anti-gun measures that would place further burdens on law-abiding gun owners and sportsmen!

The gun control package:

SB23-170 expands Colorado’s “red flag” gun confiscation scheme by allowing additional “qualified” individuals to determine who will act out in dangerous and unlawful ways ahead of time and confiscate their firearms to prevent this from happening. Second Amendment rights are taken away based on mere speculation and hearsay evidence. “Red Flag” orders, or Emergency Risk Protection Orders, are designed to empower the government to confiscate Americans’ firearms without due process of law. They can lead to the violation of citizens’ rights.

SB23-169 raises the age to purchase a firearm to 21. If passed, this would harm youth hunting. Individuals who are old enough to vote, join the military, or enter into contracts should also be allowed to purchase firearms. Raising the age limit is an unnecessary restriction on personal freedom and choice. Also, raising the age will not stop criminals from stealing firearms, getting them on the black market, or getting them from straw purchasers. It will only infringe on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.

SB23-168 holds gun industry members liable for third-party criminal acts, by “knowingly or recklessly creating, maintaining, or contributing to a public nuisance.” It is possible a gun sold lawfully could later fall into a criminal’s hands, whether through theft, secondary transfer, or some other circumstance wholly beyond a manufacturer’s or dealer’s control. If every such occasion could subject an industry member to liability, it would be all but impossible for businesses that support the Second Amendment to exist.

HB23-1219 requires a 3-day waiting period between firearm purchases and possession. Criminals will not be affected by waiting periods. Most state inmates who were in possession of a firearm at the time of their arrest obtained the firearm through an illegal source or from a friend or family member. Proponents of the waiting period claim it is a “cooling off period” that supposedly gives the prospective buyer time to reconsider their intentions and protect against impulsive actions. This argument has no logical basis. Two-thirds of gun owners own more than one gun. A cooling-off period for these gun owners could not possibly have an effect, as they already own other firearms.

Again, please click the take action button above to ask your legislators to OPPOSE all gun control measures! Then, forward this to your family and friends, and ask them to contact their senator as well!