During a legislative hearing in 2014 to overturn an ammunition magazine limit, Weld County Sheriff John Cooke holds up two high capacity 30-round magazines to demonstrate that it is impossible to identify which is an illegal magazine and which is a legal magazine. He is seated next to Rep. Chris Holbert, R-Parker. This year, both Cooke and Holbert are senators and have introduced a bill to overturn the magazine limit. (Photo By Helen H. Richardson/ The Denver Post)
Four Democrats have signed into a Senate bill that repeals a ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines, one of the most controversial measures of the 2013 legislative session.
Senate Democrats co-sponsoring the bill are Kerry Donovan of Vail, Cheri Jahn of Wheat Ridge and Leroy Garcia. In the House, Democrat Ed Vigil of Fort Garland is a co-sponsor. Vigil was of his party’s gun-control measures.
The prime sponsors of Senate Bill 175 are Republican Sens. Chris Holbert of Parker and John Cooke of Greeley and Rep. Steve Humphrey of Severance. The bill was introduced Friday afternoon and assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
It is expected to pass the Republican-controlled Senate, but its fate in the Democratic-controlled House rests with the speaker, Dickey Lee Hullinghorst of Boulder, who will decide which committee will hear the measure. Five GOP gun bills assigned to the State Affairs committee on Monday were all killed, including a bill repealing the 15-round mag ban limit. It was identical to the measure introduced today, except that bill did not have any Democrats sponsors.
Holbert believes his bill would pass if it were assigned to a friendly committee and then sent to the House floor for debate.
“The other bills, we can debate whether they were good policy, but magazine limits seem to offend people,” . “It punishes law-abiding citizens. It has been such a point of controversy, (that) if anything is repealed, it would be that one.”
The Democratic-controlled legislature , following the Aurora theater shooting and massacre at a Connecticut school in 2012.
