Colorado Gun Bill Clears Committee With Bipartisan Support

A bill that would give all legal gunowners in Colorado the option to carry a concealed weapon without a permit cleared committee on Thursday with bipartisan support.

House Bill 1205 (embedded below), sponsored by Republican Chris Holbert, proposed making it legal for anyone who passes the state's instant criminal background check--currently required for the purchase of any handgun--to conceal a weapon without a permit.

According to Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, the pro-gun group that supports, and--according to the Denver Daily News--helped write the bill, HB1205 "is designed to do one thing: allow citizens who are legally eligible to possess handguns to carry that handgun concealed, without obtaining a costly, burdensome and bureaucratic permit."

Currently, the law allows citizens who pass the background check to open-carry weapons without a permit. However, anyone who wants to conceal a weapon must pay for a $152.50 permit from the state.

To demonstrate what he perceives as the absurdity of the current law, Holbert had a woman with a model handgun in a holster put on and take off a jacket over the gun to show the lack of practical difference between concealed and open carry.

If HB 1205 became law, Coloradans would still be required to have a permit to conceal weapons on most public spaces. It would still be illegal to carry weapons of any kind on public K-12 schools

The bill was approved on an 8-3 vote by the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, with all Republicans and two Democrats voting in favor.

Claire Levy, a Democrat from Boulder who objected to the bill, was quoted by the Colorado Independent as arguing that "[HB 1205] says that if you can open carry you can conceal carry as if the two were equivalent, and I don't think they are. I think it is a dangerous situation when people are walking around with concealed weapons and nobody knows who they are."

The Colorado Association of Police Chiefs also opposed the bill, calling the rules as the stand now a useful crime-fighting tool.

The bill will now face a vote on the House floor.

READ THE BILL:

1205_01

Comments

[PiedType]

12:32 AM on 03/02/2011

Why are we turning America into an armed camp? Stop the insanity.

[mike dougles]

10:09 PM on 02/27/2011

I am sure all people who are pro choice will back this bill since it is a choice to carry a gun.

[LisaCACO]

09:43 PM on 02/27/2011

Omg, this place is crazy.

[OdinsEye]

07:12 PM on 02/27/2011

I am not quite sure what the purpose of this law is. They say that it will allow concealed carry without a permit, but then say a permit would still be required in most public spaces.

[InYourWorld]

03:22 PM on 03/01/2011

I am not sure either, CO is a 'shall issue' state. The only benefit I can see that it may be a quicker process. CCW usually takes 12-16 weeks in CO due to budget and staffing cuts at the Colorado Bureau of Investigations office that runs the thorough background checks.

[Randjamz]

01:50 PM on 02/27/2011

Guns kill, no matter whose hands they're in. Don't kid yourself ,If guns don't kill and it is that person who pull the trigger( is the killer); how could they have killed so many people in one rampage? If they only had a knife;maybe they might get one or two people before someone tackles them down,but if they have an AR-15 fully auto,with extended clips, They could mow down scores of people.And with a Glock with extend clips;they could do what Jared Loughner did in Arizona.Still he took out 5 And wounded many;not to mention the life changing sorrow of their loved ones!

Colorado, this new law is only going to create new Jareds, Don't pass this!"RJM"

[OdinsEye]

07:13 PM on 02/27/2011

Full-auto firearms are very strictly controlled by the federal government. The paperwork to possess one takes months to be processed and they are quite expensive. You cannot simply walk into a gun store or gun show and walk out with one.

[jay1975]

12:54 AM on 02/28/2011

So by allowing law abiding citizens the right to exercise thier Constitutional right, they will somehow be inclined to go on murderous rampages. Quite a stretch there.

[Randjamz]

01:30 PM on 02/27/2011

We have become a gun happy nation that doesn't care about the safety of us all. When we have our next big mass murder;will we wake-up and realize that "violence only begets violence. For it is the doom of humanity,that they forget."RJM"

[JimInHouston]

11:27 PM on 02/27/2011

"wil­l we wake-up and realize that "violence only begets violence"

The sheer vacuity and foolishness of this aphorism is discussed here:

http://www.examiner.com/religion-politics-in-fort-worth/does-violence-beget-violence

[markymark999]

11:35 PM on 03/01/2011

RJM, when the next big murder happens, I'll make sure to blow the guy away before he kills me or anyone else. This is because I live in Colorado and actually do own guns. Laws are not going to make us safer, all it does is make a certain group of people feel good, and punish 95 percent of the rest of the responsible citizens. Lets also not forget how laws can create black markets. Drugs are a perfect example. By the way I would pass a background check no problem. Also people will always do what they want, laws or not..

[Mary Blickhahn]

10:45 AM on 02/27/2011

It cost more then the permit, the class for it is also costly. I am trying to figure out what the Boulder Rep is thinking...Once you have the permit it isn't like you wear a tattoo on your head saying I have a permit....But aside from all that unless these folks actually practice with the gun, I wonder if they know how to take off the safety and can they hit the broad side of a barn?

[jay1975]

12:08 AM on 02/27/2011

I had seen a post in the Denver Post about requiring permits to exercise other rights found in the Constitution. Why not make it a law that you must pass a test to prove that are a truthful person before you can exercise your First Amendment rights? Maybe reporters should undergo training and prove that they will not be biased in thier reporting before they are "licensed" as a reporter? How about a test to prove that you can be responsible in your private life to enact your Fourth Amendment rights? The Second Amendment is in the Bill of Rights, not the "Bill of Privileges".

[Praetoria Cohors]

09:42 AM on 03/02/2011

Very well put, especially the last sentence.

[Will Hartwig]

08:44 PM on 02/26/2011

If there's no practical difference then people can carry their guns openly and avoid the terribly onerous fee of $152. Personally I think people should be required to take a gun safety class and/or pass a test. Why should it be any easier to get a gun than drive a car?

[jay1975]

11:59 PM on 02/26/2011

Colorado currently requires training before a CCW is issued.

[mackbolan]

02:22 AM on 02/27/2011

one is a right..the other is not...

[SteveDenver]

07:42 PM on 02/26/2011

Bi-partisan in this situation means ALL Republicans and two Democrats.

What is with "conceal carry?" Wear that thing in the open where everyone knows who has a gun.
I vote for "cranial carry," where those bearing firearms must strap it to their head.

[jay1975]

12:02 AM on 02/27/2011

I would glady go with open carry, but as the law is currently written, if I throw a jacket on over my open holster, I would be in violation of the law. The current open carry law in Colorado says that a weapon must be able to be seen from three sides.

[schotts]

12:59 AM on 02/27/2011

on my head? that might make it hard for me to see, hear or smell.

[blurredmolly]

01:01 PM on 02/26/2011

What is the big deal about a permit?

[grossmont325]

02:55 PM on 02/26/2011

simple--in NYC, the issue is DISCRETIONARY--therefore in violation of the 2nd amendment which protects a FUNDAMENTAL RKBA per the Supreme Court

[blurredmolly]

04:00 PM on 02/26/2011

It seems like such a small thing.

[OdinsEye]

07:16 PM on 02/27/2011

In Colorado's case though, it is shall-issue.

[Rooster Coburn]

09:40 AM on 02/26/2011

I can see Gov. Hickenlooper as a possible obstacle to any such reform becoming law.  Here in Florida we had to wait until we had a Republican governor before the bill was finally signed into law.  Same thing happened in Texas and in other states as well.  That said, I know next to nothing about politics in Colorado.

[InYourWorld]

03:26 PM on 03/01/2011

Politics in CO is pretty simple;

The population centers (Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins) are growing quickly due to transplants from CA and the East coast. The whole state is held hostage by voters in the Denver Metro area, where CCW is not allowed, and where many 'assault weapons' are banned.

[markymark999]

11:37 PM on 03/01/2011

no, that's completely wrong...

[grossmont325]

11:58 PM on 02/25/2011

now to get Cali to follow Colorado and AZ

[RevJimIII]

01:46 AM on 02/26/2011

Here I was happy to see two versions of open carry offered for consideration in Oklahoma... Constitutional carry would be fantastic...

[DenverBigDaddy]

07:05 PM on 02/25/2011

Since pens and pencils misspell words, then guns must kill people. Oh that's right......they don't.

[mdmccormick]

06:19 PM on 02/25/2011

I am not in support and I vote!

[grossmont325]

07:08 PM on 02/25/2011

md--of course you realize that you are in the minority

[mdmccormick]

07:52 PM on 02/25/2011

The Colorado Association of Police Chiefs also opposed the bill

I am in good company

[schotts]

07:40 PM on 02/25/2011

I am and I vote too