NRA-ILA | Colorado Urgent Action Needed: Assault Weapon Ban Committee Hearing Scheduled

The Colorado House Judiciary Committee scheduled House Bill 23-1230 (“HB 23-1230”) for a hearing next Wednesday, April 19th, at 1:30 P.M., MST.  HB 23-1230 bans the manufacturing, importing, purchasing, selling, offering to sell, or transferring ownership of what the drafters have defined as an “assault weapon.” Despite the thousands of messages the committee received opposing HB 23-1230, the sponsors of this extreme, unconstitutional ban are pushing forward.

Your immediate assistance is needed!  It is imperative that you contact the committee members NOW and urge them to OPPOSE HB 23-1230, which would severely restrict law-abiding gun owners and sportsmen! Additionally, please share this alert with your family and friends, and ask them to do the same.

The bill’s broad definition of “assault weapon” bans all semi-automatic rifles including America’s most common rifle, the AR-15, along with countless other rifles, pistols, and shotguns that Coloradans use for hunting, target shooting, and self-defense. HB 23-1230 also bans .50 BMG rifles, despite the fact that these rifles are essentially never used in crime. Even worse, the ban extends to common firearm parts and many innocuous components in the definition of “assault weapon” or “rapid-fire trigger activator” (FRT/forced reset trigger). Possession of one of these innocuous parts in a toolbox could lead to someone accidentally transferring them in violation of the law and being subjected to the punishment of up to 120 days in jail and/or a fine of up to $750. To read more about HB 23-1230, click here.

The proponents of these bills have used flawed examples to push their agenda, and statistics show that banning America’s most commonly owned firearms does not stop criminals from obtaining firearms through illegal means.

This is not about public safety, but about politics. The anti-gun majority simply wants to pass more bills to satisfy their gun-banning base. Today the Senate majority announced the introduction of a bill that bans custom-made firearms, which they refer to as “ghost guns.”  Instead of tackling the real issue of crime, the Colorado General Assembly will continue to take this opportunity to push their encroachment on the Second Amendment.

This bill essentially bans home-built firearms for personal use by imposing requirements that far exceed those in federal law. It prohibits private individuals from possessing certain unregulated components commonly used by hobbyists to make their own firearms.

Again, please use the links above to contact your lawmakers NOW and respectfully urge them to OPPOSE HB 23-1230 and the “ghost gun” ban. It’s crucial that NRA members and Second Amendment supporters take action now to defend our Second Amendment rights in Colorado.