Colorado Governor Ready to Sign Gun Control Bills

Colorado’s Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper will sign an expansion of background checks and a ban on “high capacity” magazines into law on Wednesday.

Once signed, these will represent some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, and their passage has already prompted businesses like Magpul Industries to say they are leaving Colorado for a more gun-friendly state.

The expansion of background checks will cripple private sales in the state by forcing even secondary gun purchases to be conducted under the auspices of a Federal Firearms License (FFL). With this will come a new background check fee–effectively, a tax–which revives a policy the state abandoned a decade ago. 

The “high capacity” magazine ban will outlaw rifle magazines that hold more than 15 rounds and shotgun magazines that hold more than 8. In firearms with fixed magazines, rifles holding more than 15 rounds will be banned and shotguns holding more than 8 rounds will be banned.

Democrat state representative Beth McCann said she supported the “high capacity” magazine ban because having 15 rounds instead of 30 “provides an interruption in the spraying of bullets.”