Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: gun control

Colorado Prepares to Enforce Semiautomatic Gun Training Law
The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Prepares to Enforce Semiautomatic Gun Training Law

By Scott Weiser | The Denver Gazette Colorado Parks and Wildlife has scheduled a series of virtual and in-person stakeholder meetings beginning Feb. 9, 2026, to explain requirements for a new firearms safety program and gather input from dealers, instructors and sheriffs before the mandate takes effect August 1, 2026. The program, created under Senate Bill 25-003, requires anyone purchasing or transferring certain firearms to obtain a background check, complete an in-person safety course and obtain an eligibility card that must be shown to sign up for the mandatory training. The law applies only to future transactions and exempts existing owners. Upcoming meetings include virtual sessions for firearms dealers and instructors on Feb. 9, followed by an in-person Den...
Mass Shooters Who Transitioned Raise Questions Not Answers
National, Approved, Colorado Politics, Commentary

Mass Shooters Who Transitioned Raise Questions Not Answers

By Jon Caldara | Commentary, Colorado Politics The 23-year-old shooter of Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis was born male. He identified as a woman and legally changed his name before he killed two and injured 18. The shooter of the Nashville Covenant School in March 2023 was born female. She identified as a man and killed six. So was the shooter at a Rite Aid in Maryland, female identifying as male. She killed three and injured three more. And in our backyard, the 22-year-old who killed five and injured 19 at Club Q in Colorado Springs was born male but declared himself nonbinary. The 16-year-old shooter at STEM School in Highlands Ranch was female identifying as a boy. She murdered Kendrick Castillo, the hero who died saving his classmates. Is there a connection ...
When gun rights depend on the judge: New study reveals disparities in DVPO cases
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, National

When gun rights depend on the judge: New study reveals disparities in DVPO cases

By Cory Gaines | Colorado Accountability Project Disparities in court orders for DVPO's Federal law prohibits the possession or purchase of firearms for certain people who have domestic violence protection orders (DVPO). Some states go further and require anyone who is subject to such an order to relinquish their firearms for the duration of the order. The study linked first below takes a look at the results of a Washington State law (which is one of the states which requires a respondent in a DVPO case to relinquish their firearms) and compares the outcomes of court cases to race. Quoting the abstract: "Historically, U.S. laws and institutions have privileged White men with firearm access over minoritized individuals, but little is known about whether racial disparities...
Senator Sullivan’s “just another form” gun law remark goes unchecked by media as sheriffs warn of crippling costs
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Senator Sullivan’s “just another form” gun law remark goes unchecked by media as sheriffs warn of crippling costs

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Senator Sullivan's dismissive rhetoric goes unchecked by the liberal media Let me start with a quote from Post "reporter" Nick Coltrain's article linked at bottom. "SB-3 does prohibit the sale of many semiautomatic weapons -- unless the purchaser has completed a firearm education course. The bill was heavily amended while it made its way through the legislature and Sullivan now describes it as a 'permit-to-purchase' law. People who follow the law haven’t lost access to anything in recent years -- and won’t under this law, Sullivan said. But laws need to change as society changes, he said. Sullivan likened the new gun laws to the shift toward widespread adoption of seatbelts in cars a few generations ago. It didn’t ha...
Strict Colorado Firearm Laws Coincide with Record Homicide Increase
State, Approved, Breitbart

Strict Colorado Firearm Laws Coincide with Record Homicide Increase

By Awr Hawkins | Breitbart News Data from Ammoland News indicates Colorado witnessed an exponential increase in firearm homicides after embracing a state-level gun control agenda in 2013. On February 10, 2013, less than two months after the heinous attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, Breitbart News noted that Colorado Democrats were declaring war on the Second Amendment. That war included bans on “high capacity” magazines, requirements for universal background checks, fees for existing background checks, and allowing victims of gun violence to sue firearm manufacturers for the misuse of weapons. Since then, Colorado Democrats’ push for gun control has continued unabated. Most recently, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed a semiautomatic ban that repres...
With 12 new laws, Colorado Democrats treat gun ownership like a public threat
Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

With 12 new laws, Colorado Democrats treat gun ownership like a public threat

By Jesse Paul | Colorado Sun From limiting who can purchase most semiautomatic rifles on the market today to raising the minimum age to buy ammunition, Democrats in the legislature were busy this year imposing new gun regulations Democrats in the Colorado legislature this year passed a dozen bills imposing new gun regulations, all of which were signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis. They included measures limiting who can purchase most semiautomatic rifles on the market today, raising the minimum age to buy ammunition and aiming to improve Colorado’s response to mass shootings. While some don’t go into effect until next year, and a few are sure to draw legal challenges from gun rights groups, they represent some of the most wide-reaching changes to Colorado’s firearms laws ever a...
“Aptitude test for your rights?” Mesa County pushes back on SB3 in letter to the DOJ
Approved, Local, National, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

“Aptitude test for your rights?” Mesa County pushes back on SB3 in letter to the DOJ

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Would you need a perfect GPA to speak your mind or worship freely? Mesa County officials say Colorado’s new gun law is treating the Second Amendment that way – and they’ve asked the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene. In a three-page letter sent this month, the Mesa County Board of Commissioners urged federal authorities to investigate Senate Bill 25-003, calling it a “grotesque misuse of government power” that effectively imposes a discriminatory test on anyone wishing to lawfully own or carry a firearm. The law, which takes effect in August 2026, requires residents to complete state-approved firearms training, score 90% on a written exam and obtain conditional approval from their sheriff’s office every five years in order to receive or...
Gaines: Phil Weiser spends your tax dollars suing Trump and backing gun control
Colorado Accountability Project, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Gaines: Phil Weiser spends your tax dollars suing Trump and backing gun control

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project There but for the grace of God goes Colorado I was corresponding with someone recently and they mentioned something interesting. This person is a lawyer and said they were in a 10th circuit (Federal) courtroom recently and overheard an appellate case out of New Mexico about gun control. I am not sure if you remember, but New Mexico's governor made quite a splash a while back by declaring a public health emergency related to guns, trying essentially to use that to take away the Second Amendment rights of the citizens of that state. Those orders, and later iterations of same, have been working their way through the courts ever since. The first link below is to that case if you're curious. This person asked a neighbor...
Polis’ ‘libertarian’ label faces reality check from Reason Magazine
Approved, completecolorado.com, State, Top Stories

Polis’ ‘libertarian’ label faces reality check from Reason Magazine

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado DENVER — Amidst ongoing battles within his own party, and despite recently vetoing a pair of bills that concentrated more authority in Colorado state government, Jared Polis’ carefully scripted reputation as a libertarian-leaning governor appears to be fading. Even Reason Magazine, the national media outlet that has for years has hung its hat on the idea that Polis is more liberty-minded than progressive, is now questioning whether Polis’ moderate temperament is real, with editor-at-large Nick Gillepsie tugging back on Polis’ libertarian card in an April 14 article asking if the “small government Democrat is beefing up state power.” Reason has long been considered the standard-bearer for libertarian though...
Green: Report card for Colorado’s collapse under one-party rule—straight F’s across the board
Approved, Commentary, PJ Media, State, Top Stories

Green: Report card for Colorado’s collapse under one-party rule—straight F’s across the board

By Stephen Green | PJ Media Colorado's economic report card is in, and my beloved home state — formerly a solid A and B student — just flunked every subject.  Once upon a time, Colorado was a devilishly weird purple state — home to moderate-to-conservative Republicans like Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Tom Tancredo, idiosyncratic Democrats like Gary Hart and Richard Lamm, and (outside the Denver-Boulder Axis) a healthy libertarian streak. It was such a swirl that one of those famous Republicans, Campbell, was originally a Democrat. That all began to change around 2008 when my purple state went deep blue for Barack Obama. By 2018, the hope'n'change was locked in. The last Republican to win statewide office was in 2016, when Heidi Ganahl was elected to the University of Colora...