MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Lawmakers in Colorado are proposing legislation that would create some of the most restrictive gun control laws in the country. The bill would outlaw the use of detachable ammunition magazines in most cases. Those are devices that allow shooters to reload and fire bullets more quickly. From member station KUNC, Lucas Brady Woods reports.
LUCAS BRADY WOODS, BYLINE: On a January morning in Lakewood, Colorado, just outside Denver, a steady stream of customers browse the showroom at Bristlecone Shooting, Training and Retail Center.
BRYAN CLARK: ...Stuff you'll hear of what's called the pistol brace, which is a little thing that you have...
WOODS: Owner Bryan Clark has been running the store for a decade.
CLARK: Over the last three to four years, we feel like we've been under attack.
WOODS: Over that time, Colorado has passed more than a dozen laws that gun ownership advocates say limit their rights, but Clark could soon be subject to those aggressive magazine restrictions. If the bill passes, it would be illegal in Colorado to buy, sell and make most guns because of their detachable magazines. It would affect pistols and some handguns, but especially rifles and shotguns.
CLARK: For our long gun inventory, 60 to 75% of the guns we sell would be affected.
WOODS: That includes one of his best sellers, the AR-15. Here's what it sounds like attaching a magazine to one.
(SOUNDBITE OF LOADING GUN MAGAZINE)
CLARK: The Colorado legislature has definitely been making it much more difficult for dealers like ourselves, and they keep chipping away at our rights and our ability to make a living.
WOODS: Other critics, including Colorado's Republican lawmakers, say the measure would be outright unconstitutional, but supporters say it's necessary to limit the damage inflicted during mass shootings. Colorado has a long history of those, dating back to Columbine in 1999. Fast forward to 2012, when a shooter used a hundred-round detachable magazine to open fire on moviegoers in Aurora. Tom Sullivan's son Alex was one of the dozen people killed in that shooting.
TOM SULLIVAN: If Alex had had two seconds, maybe he could have gotten behind the seats. Maybe something else could have happened in front of him, and maybe he'd still be here today.
WOODS: The Aurora movie theater shooting was one reason Colorado passed a law more than a decade ago banning magazines that contain more than 15 rounds. But since then, two of the country's worst mass shootings happened in Colorado - at a Boulder supermarket in 2021 and at Club Q, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs a year later. Both involved high-capacity detachable magazines. Sullivan, now a Democratic state senator, is behind the latest gun control proposal. He frames it as a way to strengthen the ban on high-capacity magazines. It doesn't have any impact on guns people already own.
SULLIVAN: This is for the next purchase, and this is for the next person who becomes disgruntled at work or is being led down a path by some ideology out there. And when that person goes down to their local gun shop or big box store, they are going to buy something that's got an attached magazine to it.
WOODS: Other states already have magazine restrictions in place. In California, magazines are supposed to be fixed, but the locking mechanism can still be removed in minutes with simple tools. Colorado would go even further and require them to be soldered, welded or affixed with strong epoxy. Most Democrats support the measure, but they had to make some concessions to get Colorado's Democratic governor, Jared Polis, fully on board. One exempts several dozen firearms that are commonly used for hunting. Another would let people buy prohibited guns if they go through hours of safety training and get approval from their local sheriff.
Daniel Webster studies state gun laws at Johns Hopkins University. He says even with the changes, the measure would create some of the country's strictest gun ownership laws.
DANIEL WEBSTER: Colorado could be a pioneer in true safety test for civilian firearm owners.
WOODS: It's especially significant that it's happening in a western state like Colorado that has a deep-rooted gun culture, Webster says.
WEBSTER: For Colorado to take this step, it would be more of a statement that it's important for there to be a more rigorous process for vetting.
WOODS: Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action are supporting the bill on one side. The National Rifle Association and other groups are lobbying against it. The bill may now have a clear path to the finish line in Colorado, but even if it's signed into law, it will likely face challenges in court.
For NPR News, I'm Lucas Brady Woods in Lakewood, Colorado.
(SOUNDBITE OF AKON SONG, "CRACK ROCK") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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