By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice
It would be difficult to say what turned Republican support against a bipartisan bill Tuesday in the House’s Judiciary Committee — the considerable expenditure required in a down fiscal year or the potential raised of harm to gun owners.
House Bill 25-1098, by Delta Republican Rep. Matt Soper and Democrat Rep. Rebekah Stewart, aimed at establishing an automated system to alert crime victims to changes in their cases, lost all but Soper’s support from the minority caucus.
“I’m a huge advocate for victim’s rights,” said Republican Rep. Rebecca Keltie, a member of the committee. “The fiscal note is a concern.”
Implementation and maintenance of a notification system by a third-party vendor would require a $500,000 investment this fiscal year and $250,000 each year following, a fiscal note attached to the bill reads. The bill cleared the committee with a 7-3 vote of support along party lines.
It may be that Ian Escalante, the executive director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, turned the other votes. He noted a concern the bill could unintentionally restrict the rights of some gun owners.
“The bar for a protection order in Colorado is incredibly low,” he said. “The bar is so incredibly low, for simply saying something inappropriate or mean to someone, you could lose your gun rights.”
He also noted the person who got a court to place a protection order on someone else would be a person notified by the system.
“If they leak data or expose something they shouldn’t, you have no recourse,” Escalante said.
The argument seemed to convince at least Republican committee member Rep. Ryan Armagost, a co-chair of the House’s new 2nd Amendment Caucus.
“What we always have [to consider] are the unintended consequences,” Armagost said. “I don’t think that has been addressed.”
He intimated concern toward a weaponization of the protection order.
“I have to draw my line,” Armagost said, adding he saw the bill as well-intended.
Republican Rep. Jarvis Caldwell also voted with Armagost and Keltie to oppose the measure advancing. Caldwell did not indicate why it lost his support.
Democrats on the committee challenged Escalante’s assertions and asked him to explain gun laws to them, first questioning ATF Form 4473 completed during a firearms transaction. This is the form a gun dealer like Cabela’s or any FFL holder must complete with the customer and submit to CBI (FBI in some other states) before possession and ownership of a firearm may be transferred.
“If you lie on a 4473, when you know you are under a protective order, that is a federal crime,” Escalante said. It is an offense not unlike the one Hunter Biden infamously committed, and for which he was pardoned by his father, then President Joe Biden.
“The judicial system already has a notification system,” Escalante said. “There are already recourses in place, without handing this information out to a third party.”
He had earlier called the bill a building of “a database full of people, yet again”.
Soper had countered, “It is important to notify victims, certainly of change in their particular case. … It is important they have knowledge to protect themselves.”
Committee chair Rep. Javier Mabrey, a Democrat, commended Soper for joining the bill.
“I think it’s amazing this bill is bipartisan,” he said. “I hope there will be work to make this bill even more expansive.”