Colorado governor signs landmark gun bills

IVAN MORENO

Asso­ci­ated Press

DENVER — Colorado’s gov­er­nor signed bills Wednes­day that place new restric­tions on firearms, sig­nal­ing a change for Democ­rats who have tra­di­tion­ally shied away from gun con­trol in a state with a pio­neer tra­di­tion of gun own­er­ship and self-reliance.

The leg­is­la­tion thrust Col­orado into the national spot­light as a poten­tial test of how far the coun­try might be will­ing to go with new gun restric­tions after the hor­ror of mass killings at an Aurora movie the­ater and a Con­necti­cut ele­men­tary school.

Demo­c­ra­tic Gov. John Hick­en­looper signed bills that require back­ground checks for pri­vate and online gun sales and ban ammu­ni­tion mag­a­zines that hold more than 15 rounds.

The debate in the Democratic-controlled Leg­is­la­ture was intense, and Repub­li­cans warned that vot­ers would make Democ­rats pay. The bills failed to gar­ner a sin­gle Repub­li­can vote.

The bills’ approval came exactly eight months after dozens of peo­ple were shot in Aurora, and a day after the exec­u­tive direc­tor of the state Cor­rec­tions Depart­ment, Tom Clements, was shot and killed at his home. Hick­en­looper signed the leg­is­la­tion right after speak­ing with reporters about Clements’ slaying.

Hick­en­looper said large-capacity mag­a­zines “have the poten­tial to turn killers into killing machines.” He also said he real­ized some gun own­ers may be incon­ve­nienced but that “the poten­tial for dam­age seems to out­weigh, sig­nif­i­cantly, the incon­ve­nience that peo­ple would have,” he said.

The bills sig­nal a his­toric change for Democ­rats in a state where own­ing a gun is as com­mon as own­ing a car in some rural areas.

“He just slapped rural Col­orado right in the face,” said Repub­li­can Sen. Bro­phy, who rep­re­sents an east­ern plains dis­trict. “They are over­whelm­ingly upset about this.”

Both bills take effect July 1. Peo­ple who cur­rently own larger-capacity mag­a­zines will be able to keep them.

At the sign­ing cer­e­mony, Hick­en­looper was sur­rounded by law­mak­ers who spon­sored the bills, and rel­a­tives of mass shoot­ings. Hick­en­looper also signed requir­ing buy­ers to pay fees for back­ground checks.

Each time he signed a bill, applause erupted from law­mak­ers and their guests, who included Jane Dougherty, whose sis­ter was killed in the attack at Sandy Hook Ele­men­tary in New­town, Conn.; Sandy Phillips, whose daugh­ter was killed in Aurora; and Tom Mauser, whose son was killed in the 1999 Columbine shoot­ing in Colorado.

Phillips, who lost daugh­ter Jes­sica Ghawi, reminded Hick­en­looper that it was the eight-month anniver­sary of the the­ater rampage.

“You’ve given us a real gift today,” she told the governor.

Later, Phillips added: “Thank you so much. You’re lead­ing the entire country.”

Dougherty thanked Hick­en­looper with tears in her eyes. Mauser also expressed gratitude.

“I knew it would be a long haul,” he said. “But I had faith in the peo­ple of Colorado.”

Demo­c­ra­tic Rep. Rhonda Fields, who rep­re­sents the dis­trict that includes the Aurora the­ater, said the gov­er­nor had signed “common-sense legislation.”

“Gun vio­lence is a prob­lem nation­wide, and sadly in the state of Col­orado, we are all too famil­iar with some of these tragedies,” Fields said.

.

Posted by AP News on Mar 21 2013. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.