Colorado’s Democratic-controlled House on Sunday passed a bill that would ban the sale and transfer of semiautomatic firearms, a major step for the legislation after roughly the same bill was swiftly killed by Democrats last year.

The bill, which passed on a 35-27 vote, is now on its way to the Democratic-led state Senate. If it passes there, it could bring Colorado in line with 10 other states — including California, New York and Illinois — that have prohibitions on semiautomatic guns.

But even in a state plagued by some of the nation’s worst mass shootings, such legislation faces headwinds.

Colorado’s political history is purple, shifting blue only recently. The bill’s chances of success in the state Senate are lower than they were in the House, where Democrats have a 46-19 majority and a bigger far-left flank. Gov. Jared Polis, also a Democrat, has indicated his wariness over such a ban.

  • Flying Squid
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    6 months ago
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    You said ‘weapons,’ not ‘guns.’ If you meant guns, that would be a different issue. However, even there, fully-automatic machine guns are not generally available with a simple background check like other guns. You have to apply for a federal license to get them. So they are treated quite differently.

    • jordanlund
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      6 months ago
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      No, but as noted above, there IS a path to legal machine gun ownership, it’s just slightly more involved and expensive.

        • jordanlund
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          Pretty much, it’s a tax on the poors. They’ll have to be satisfied with bump stocks and hellfire triggers.

      • Flying Squid
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        6 months ago
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        I would personally argue that expanding that to other guns would be a huge step up from what we have now. It might even prevent some mass shootings.

        • jordanlund
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          It could, but as with the machine gun ban, it needs to be done at a Federal level.

          • Flying Squid
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            Do you think maybe the fact that you are suggesting that poor people need guns to protect themselves is indicative of a much bigger problem?