Gun violence at issue in Capitol session
Democrats at the state Capitol have rolled out a package of four bills they claim will reduce gun violence.
But a bill that has already seen several drafts, on banning so-called assault weapons, wasn’t among them, and it may not surface in the 2023 session.
The four bills introduced in the past week include:
Senate Bill 370, sponsored by Sen. Tom Sullivan, a Centennial Democrat. Sullivan was the sponsor in 2019 of the extreme-risk protective order law, and the 2023 version is intended to allow more individuals to file for those orders.
The so-called “red flag” law allows law enforcement or family members to seek a court order that would temporarily take away firearms from someone who is believed to be at risk to others or to themselves. Under the law, a judge would hold a hearing, within 24 hours, to evaluate the situation. If the person is deemed a risk, the firearms would be held by law enforcement for 14 days and then re-evaluated. If the person is still considered to be a risk, the firearms could be withheld for as much as a year.
The changes contained in SB 370 would allow district attorneys, licensed medical care providers, licensed mental health-care providers and licensed educators to seek those orders.
But the inclusion of doctors or mental-health providers is already raising questions about whether that would result in violations of doctor-patient confidentiality.
Sullivan, whose son, Alex, was murdered in the Aurora Theater shooting in 2012 by a man who was under a therapist’s care at the time, is carrying the bill along with Senate President Steve Fenberg of Boulder.
Age to purchase firearms
The second bill is Senate Bill 169, which would raise the age for purchasing a firearm from 18 to 21. The bill is sponsored by Sens. Kyle Mullica of Thornton and Jessie Danielson of Wheat Ridge. SB 169 also lowers the penalty for providing a firearm to someone under the age of 21; previously, it was a class 4 felony. The bill makes it a class 2 misdemeanor.
The bill has limited exceptions. It allows those between 18 and 21 who have a hunting license to possess a firearm, so long as it is not a handgun or semi-automatic center fire rifle. It also permits someone between 18 and 21 to possess a firearm who is in law enforcement, active-duty military, or under the supervision of an immediate family member who is at least 25 years old.
But the bill carries no exceptions for agriculture or wildlife management, such as for a person between 18 and 21 who may need to deal with predators on the farm or ranch, and does not have time to contact an older family member for that supervision. When asked about the bill during a Feb. 22 press conference, sponsors reiterated that the person would have to get a family member to supervise. That supervision would also be required for a young farmer or rancher with their own business who is under the age of 21.
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