What Constitution? State House moves to ban firing guns on private property
Feb 14, 2023
State House Democrats passed a gun control bill Monday allowing counties to ban the discharge of weapons on private property, but then had to rescind it because they forgot to let opponents join in the debate.
It’s the most Colorado thing to happen this week.
This means House Democrats will have to let Republicans have a say when the bill comes up again Tuesday, before outlawing our constitutional right to discharge our firearm on our own fricking property.
In perfect Orwellian fashion, Democrats argue their bill doesn’t really change the current law.
Except it most certainly does.
House Bill 1165 is the brainchild of Democrat Reps. Judy Amabile of Boulder; Karen McCormick of Longmont; and Sens. Dylan Roberts of Eagle and Sonya Jaquez Lewis of Longmont.
The bill was amended in the House to allow gun owners to fire their weapon on private property if hunting or managing livestock or wildlife. It remains to be seen whether the bill would also be similarly amended in the Senate.
If passed by both chambers and signed into law by Gov. Polis, the measure would give county councils the power to outlaw the discharge of firearms in areas with at least 35 dwellings per square mile — that’s 640 acres or about 18 acres for each lot.
From Colorado Politics:
Rural Colorado lawmakers, however, point to the bill as an example of the rural-urban divide permeating the state Capitol.
People are panicking in rural Colorado, said Rep. Marc Catlin, R-Montrose. People who are moving from another state or city to rural Colorado think they can decide what everyone is comfortable with, he said.
“This is one or two neighborhoods who brought the idea. Statewide, this is a concern,” he said.
“Are we doing countywide policy on neighborhood-to-neighborhood basis?” he said, adding that, under the proposal, it would be “okay to own a gun. Just not to shoot it.”
That’s exactly what the Democrat-controlled legislature intends.