Colorado Senate Bill 25-003: Extreme gun ban reduces firearms safety

Summary

• If enacted, SB25-003 would be the first firearms prohibition law in the history of Colorado.
• The bill constitutes, by far, the most sweeping, extreme ban on rifles in any U.S. jurisdiction, ever.
• The bill is a very large step towards Gabrielle Giffords’ stated objective for her organization: “No More Guns. Gone.”[i]
• The bill is designed to reduce gun safety by eliminating the safest mechanism for unloading or clearing jams in long guns.
• The bill further reduces safety by outlawing handguns that are best-designed to reduce recoil. More recoil means less accuracy, which means less effective self-defense, and more danger of stray shots.

... The Scope of the Ban

Below are photos of some of the many rifles that would be banned by SB25-003. These types of rifles are virtually never used in violent crimes of any type. Prohibiting them has no connection with public safety...

The Handgun Ban

The handgun ban is not as sweeping as the long gun ban. But it is quite irrational. The bill does not ban handguns based on their caliber, firepower, or size. The banned handguns fire slightly slower than the ones that are not (yet) banned. The banned handguns have lower recoil, which makes them safer and more accurate...

Technical explanation...

Looking Ahead

The modus operandi of the gun prohibition lobbies has always that today’s exceptions to convince credulous legislators or citizens to accept limited new restrictions later become “loopholes” to be eliminated.

For example, advocates of the 2000 law on gun show sales by private individuals (persons who only sell a few guns per year, and therefore cannot qualify for a Federal Firearms License) vigorously explained that the bill did not apply to ordinary private sales, such as an individual selling a gun to her friend in a hunting club.

Then in 2013, the fact that the gun show bill was only about gun shows was claimed to be a “loophole” that must be closed. The general assembly passed a bill that outlawed all private sales. The bill even outlawed giving your gun to a neighbor for safe storage while you go away for a three week vacation...

The gun prevention lobbies today use their focus group tested phrase of “preventing gun violence.” If you read their statistics closely, you will see that they define “gun violence” to include justifiable self-defense against violent felony attackers.  SB25-003 is culture war prosecuted through criminal law. It is not public safety legislation...