Hickenlooper sign mag cap ban, gun registration bill (courtesy denverpost.com)

As predicted, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has just signed three gun control bills passed by the Rocky Mountain State’s legislature. HB 1224 limits ammunition magazines to 15 rounds; HB 1229 requires “universal background checks” for gun sales or transfers; and HB 1228, forces gun customers to pay for the costs of the background checks. As denverpost.com reports, the Hickster signed the bills and waved the bloody shirt, simultaneously. “Each time he signed a bill, applause erupted from lawmakers and their guests, who included Jane Dougherty, whose sister was killed in the attack at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.; Sandy Phillips, whose daughter was killed in Aurora; and Tom Mauser, whose son was killed in the 1999 Columbine shooting in Colorado . . .

Phillips, who lost daughter Jessica Ghawi, reminded Hickenlooper that it was the eight-month anniversary of the theater rampage.

“You’ve given us a real gift today,” she told the governor.

Later, Phillips added: “Thank you so much. You’re leading the entire country.”

Hopefully, not. In fact, Hickenlooper’s spokesmouth was quick to unleash damage control on his boss’s behalf.

“Large magazines have the potential to turn killers into killing machines,” said Hickenlooper spokesman Eric Brown.

“This law won’t stop bad people from doing bad things. But it does open the possibility that a person determined to kill people might be slowed down even for an instant. That instant might mean the difference between life and death for some people.”

Well it’s certainly going to be the death of 200+ jobs in Colorado. true to their word, CO-based mag makers Magpul are pulling out. Here’s their statement, via Facebook:

With the signing of the HB 1224, we want to reassure Colorado residents, now officially in occupied territory, that the “Boulder Airlift” will continue until we can no longer legally ship to CO residents at the approach of the July 1 deadline, so long as demand continues.

We are looking at additional ways to give Coloradans the opportunity to buy the magazines they need prior to the enactment date, as although we’ve been swamped with tens of thousands of orders, our shipping department limitations have only allowed us to get a few hundred thousand magazines out to CO residents…a small portion of our monthly production. We’ll continue to support the Airlift as long as demand exists, and up to the active date of the legislation, and we’ve allocated a little over a million magazines for the effort up to that point, give or take.

Customers in the rest of the country should rest assured that the airlift only takes a small portion of our production, and magazines and other products are continuing to ship to the rest of the nation. Our transition to a new home will occur in a phased and orderly a manner to allow us to continue to serve our customers during the move, as well as to allow an orderly transition for affected employees. We are actively working on those plans.

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95 COMMENTS

  1. This shouldn’t take too long to fall. Best thing is that the tighter they try to make their control, the more unconstitutional they become and easier to shoot down.

    • Why do you think it will fall?

      Don’t get me wrong, I hope it does, but why do you think it will fall?

      • Legal challenge, michi.

        Though where it will come from I don’t know. I would hope that CO residents would refuse to comply in the spirit of nonviolent civil disobedience. Fill the jails. Clog the courts.

        For a state to require “universal background checks” for someone giving their firearm to a daughter, son, niece, or nephew strikes me as vicious interference in family culture.

        Ought I admit I predict CO’s gun owners will roll over and take it like a bunch of domesticated latte-swilling suburbanites?

        • Not at all. I don’t think we’re intending on rolling over, I just want to see a realistic path forward.

          If I’m wrong in my doubt about legal challenges, bring on the wrongness because I’d love to be wrong here.

          My only hope on 1224 is that the NY SAFE is taken so high that somehow mag limits are overturned universally. Maybe the ‘no transfer’ clause will get to be a problem, because I’m not sure how OK it is for the government to say that you can’t transfer property. We’ll have to see.

          As for UBCs, that’s a tougher one. Maybe along the lines of the above, but so long as a gun was made before the law, I see no way for them to be able to prove that it wasn’t owned by the transferee before the law was enacted.

          New items, on the other hand…. yeah. problem.

        • “For a state to require “universal background checks” for someone giving their firearm to a daughter, son, niece, or nephew strikes me as vicious interference in family culture.”

          Well, it would, except for that fact that it doesn’t, “Prior to passage, Senate Democrats amended the House version of the bill to exempt immediate family from undergoing background checks in a gun transfer.”

          GUNFAQ: http://www.gunfaq.org/2013/03/universal-background-check-law-signed-in-colorado/

        • Tama,

          Fill the jails. Clog the courts.

          Reply: “Here’s your felony conviction, the sentence is time served, no stay of conviction while appealing is granted, and the SWAT team will be by to collect the guns you no longer have the right to own or be anywhere around. You’re free to go.”

      • I believe Heller said that you can’t ban something because the bad guys have it or can get it too regarding 1224. They other bills, not so much.

        • I just hope HEller applies to magazines. If it does, you’re right. If it doesn’t… well…

          This is all going to depend on when/if things hit the SCOTUS and what the makeup of it is at the time.

      • There is a solid argument to be made that the “readily convertible” language in the mag limit bill makes all magazines illegal, since pretty much all of them allow you to remove the floor plate and add an extension. I’m sure some courts will try to dance around it and punt, but I think it’s pretty black and white. Heller and McDonald make it pretty hard for Bloomberg et al. to declare all magazines illegal.

        The good thing about having Bloomberg’s clan involved in all of these fights is that most, if not all, of the proposed bills contain this deficient language.

        • We’ll have to see what the signing statement was. I actually hope it -didn’t- remove that language.

        • I saw that, too. An accidental oversight? I think not. But I hope you’re right. For those who thought it was a good idea to “pass it first and then find out what’s in it”, here is the exact wording:

          (2) (a) “LARGE-CAPACITY MAGAZINE MEANS: (I) A FIXED OR DETACHABLE MAGAZINE, BOX, DRUM, FEED STRIP, OR SIMILAR DEVICE CAPABLE OF ACCEPTING, OR THAT IS DESIGNED TO BE READILY CONVERTED TO ACCEPT, MORE THAN FIFTEEN ROUNDS OF AMMUNITION

    • According to the Denver Post, one sheriff (Weld County) is already on record saying his department will NOT enforce the bans. And it is legal for him to do so.

      http://www.denverpost.com/commented/ci_22817663?source=commented-

      “Colorado is a local-control state.” He could be sued in court to be forced to comply, but it’s unlikely anyone in his county would do so.

      This is what it will come to: further fragmentation of gun laws so that law abiding citizens are made criminals without knowing it just by driving their cars from one place to another. It’s already next to impossible just to keep up with the various STATE regulations. Now there will also be a patchwork of local ones.

      Add TSA highway checkpoints and erasure of Fourth Amendment protections and before you know it, exercising RKBA will be a license for various state apparatuses to transubstantiate law-abiding citizens into felons.

      That is the purpose for these laws: to erode inborn rights, because it’s very hard for malefactors to steal them outright. If it happens to make it harder for the law-abiding to travel freely, all the better!

      Another possibility is a major lawsuit against the state, or having this overturned in the future if the political winds change. I’m not holding my breath on those counts. In any event, Hickenlooper just traded his state post for one at the federal level.

    • The police state is growing in the USSA. Welcome to a police state without liberty and freedom and confiscatory taxes funneled to government.

    • I have a feeling we’d only be hearing those numbers if they were in his favor. They weren’t, so we won’t.

      By the way: To any dealers or shops getting ready to add CO to the list of ‘no sale’ states, remember, this ban does NOT TAKE EFFECT UNTIL JULY 1.

      I’m sure some do-gooder dealers will be jumping the gun, though. I’m expecting to see a lot of CO mag orders cancelled.

      • I sent emails opposing the mag ban and the college campus concealed carry ban. Now, I will continue to support Magpul and will avoid hunting and skiing in Colorado.

        With that being said, Colorado is still more free than CA. That may be depressing, but I’m also considering sending Feinstein (“my” senator) an email “congratulating” her on the defeat of the AWB. All is not lost. The important thing is to oppose these measures wherever you are.

        It sure is nice to be hearing some good news regarding the failure of these anti-freedom laws.

        • Congratulatory email to Feinstein? That’s an excellent idea, and I’ll be sure to do the same.

        • I’ll continue to oppose them, and I’ll do whatever I can realistically, but that doesn’t make the chances of themm actually being overturned any more likely.

          I’m not giving up, but I am being realistic.

        • I wouldn’t sarcastically congratulate her yet, that slimy little C**T, is taking this too damn well for my piece of mind. It’s going to pop up somewhere, sometime in another obscure piece of legislation!

        • The New Coloradans don’t WANT your hunting ANYWAY. By which I mean the coastal, gun-ignorant swarms of latte-swillers who moved there and thought it was okay to drag their culture with them. In places like Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, even Crestone in the gun-friendly San Luis Valley, largest alpine valley on Earth. They really are a malignant swarm, and it’s only begun. I’m afraid Colorado’s gone. Until the societal collapse, anyway, at which time they will suddenly wish they had the guns they so long maligned… and can’t get one.

          Thing sort themselves out, sometimes in a really brutal fashion.

        • Dear Senator Feinstein,

          I just wanted to congratulate you on the death of your AWB and the victory of freedom over government tyranny. Your horrifically unconstitutional proposals will do nothing to keep us safe, the very object of the legislation, yet will do everything to take our civil liberties away. I can only hope that the rest of California realizes this and votes you, and everyone in government like you who are dangerous to our country and its constitution, out. (That will be the day when we can really celebrate)

          Best regards,

          Aaron Schwarz

    • Two groups are working on a “state constitutional amendment” to be put on the ballot as of next year. The chances of this making it are slim to none and they won’t bring Magpul back, for sure.

      So far, no word of any challenges. Just lots of people screaming “Recall Hickenlooper!” which also, as good as it may feel, will never happen.

      I’m sure if a challenge does happen, TTAG will hear about it – but I’m not holding my breath. Most gun people I talk to seem to think that the solution to this is demonstrations, boycotts, and a bunch of other feel-goody stuff that won’t actually change anything.

      Yeah, I’m a bit cynical at this point; only AFTER this passed the house and senate did I hear 20-30 people I know asking me, “So what just passed? What’s in these bills?”

      Living in Colorado for a long time, I’ve seen some degree of apathy that tends to prevail. It’s not that CO’s population is anti-gun so much as a lot of this is going to be taken with an “Oh well.”

      If any 2A lawering types are out there, please follow up and prove me wrong.

      • “Living in Colorado for a long time, I’ve seen some degree of apathy that tends to prevail. It’s not that CO’s population is anti-gun so much as a lot of this is going to be taken with an “Oh well.””

        Being stoned does that to people…..

        • Yeah. We’re not all stoned. Really. This BARELY passed, and the last election was no landslide. 1 vote in the senate. Hardly a mandate.

          If a few more folks were a little bit more motivated in the past… we wouldn’t have this problem.

          I wasn’t apathetic, but unfortunately I haven’t gotten that mind control skill down pat quite yet.

      • The lawyers will come. The problem is that Obama’s tactic of going after the states instead of the federal makes it a battle of many front. Sun-Tzu would be proud…

    • I don’t get why companies like Glock, Ruger, and S&W don’t dump money into fighting these laws. 15 rounds is no longer the norm for a 9mm. The SR9, M&P, Glock 17 all carry 17 round mags. I live in a city with a 15 round mag ban and my choices in 9mm and .40 pistols suck since everything good holds 16 or 17 rounds now. How much money will these companies lose in sales of full size handguns becuse of a mag cap limit?

  6. I will be heading out to Colorado at the end of April and will transfer a rifle to my son. If he wants my XD 45 I will give him that too. He lives in Larimer County where the Sheriff will not enforce thsese new laws.

  7. Law or not, I think in this case, Colorado LE ain’t gonna do anything.

    So who’s going to be the first to file a legal challenge to the law?

    • As I’ve been saying – in Colorado, probably none. Especially with the supposed “patching” of 1224 with a signing statement about the Readily Convertible clause.

      All hopes now are pinned on the proposed 2014 state constitutional amendment that says that a vote ‘by the people’ is required to change ammunition limits.

      I’m not sure if that wording will hold water, and with constitutional amendments, wording is everything.

      As far as universal background checks go? Yeah, no, that one’s even more carved in stone.

    • Law or not, I think in this case, Colorado LE ain’t gonna do anything.

      I guess you have this utopian idea of ALL LE’s! If you don’t think the Gestapo in Denver won”t fall in line like ducks to water, you haven’t been paying attention!

  8. I hope this will lead to enough backlash to undo the gains the Progressives have made in Co., and serve as a wake-up call to people in states still run by Americans. Fingers crossed.

  9. I really wish it hasn’t come to this. I’m glad magpul is flooding the state while it still can!

    • A signing statement, apparently. Which has not been revealed yet. They of course want it to be tough to challenge. In the end it’ll be a good ol’ 15 round mag limit, which is becoming an american tradition.

      • Stop being such a Debbie Downer. Dave Kopel knows his stuff and is fairly certain given the Heller v DC decision this magban is unconstitutional not only because of the “readily convertible” language but because it bans standard capacity mags in common use NOT truly high capacity mags.

        • I hope you’re right, Coloradan. Yes, I heard Kopel speak and it gave me chills – (in the good way). So I agree that he knows his stuff.

          And, I apologize (en masse) for the negativity. Seeing the picture of Hickenlooper signing the thing with Hodge and Fields standing behind him with SEGs on their faces took the wind out of me this morning.

          How about this: “I can’t wait to hear what Kopel’s plan is”.

  13. Congratulations, Mike Bloomberg! First you bought a city, and then you bought a whole state! And damn cheaply, too.

    The people of Colorado must be so pleased knowing that the state is now officially New York City’s sixth borough.

    • Great analogy, Ralph. Why aren’t the libs screaming about policy being set by outsider contributions from big business (men)? And they scorned Romney for his net wealth.

    • Hello Ralph. I’m trapped behind the lines in the now Progressive Paradise of the Rocky Mountains. I think our main hope is to try to vote out the Gun Prohibitionist legislators in the next election. Unfortunately the damage done by Bloomberg and his progressive comrades will be very difficult to fix.

      • I’m not up on Colorado election law, but why wait?
        Surely recall petitions could be started on the
        governor and any legislators that voted for this.

        Given the uproar over the issue, a recall might
        actually have a fair chance. I’m sure Magpul
        would help out and probably some national pro-2A
        groups as well.

        • There are two recall initiatives already underway. One is for John Morse, the D who is president of the Senate. He’s also term-limited in 2014, which may have helped in the chutzpah department. He won by a little over 1% in 2010 with an independent taking 4% of the vote. The other is Rep. McLachlan, a freshman D from Durango. He’s up for re-election in 2014.

          The question is really whether or not to go after these guys and try to remove them in November, when the turnout will be motivated, or keep the powder dry and try to elect more 2A friendly types in 2014

    • > Congratulations, Mike Bloomberg! First you bought a city,
      > and then you bought a whole state!

      I thought conservatives and libertarians were in favor of the super-rich buying elections and legislation.

  14. To hell with the ninnies. I hope every gun dealer within shouting distance of the Colorado border stocks up to the gills on regular capacity magazines and sells them out the wazoo. I’d like to see Uli boy and Evie girl try to moan and wail and gnash their teeth and try to take them away. I hope not a single gun owner complies with the mag ban. As for the rest of the legislation….well, the background check fee is a poll tax, pure and simple. It’s a fee to exercise a constitutional right (2nd Amendment), just the same as a poll tax was a fee that had to be paid to vote. Blatantly unconstitutional and it will be thrown out, hopefully along with Hickenlooper, Hudak, Ulibarri, and Salazar and any other traitor that voted for this asinine legislation. They should have tried to ban rope while they were at it. I do not live in Colorado, but rest assured they are not welcome in my state, not now, not ever.

    Tom

    • Hate to break it to you, but I doubt any gun shop is going to take the risk of being put out of business by ignoring this law. Furthermore, distributors are going to comply right away. (With the exception of Mako and Magpul, as far as I know.)

      Distributors were already beginning to hold back on shipments to local gun shops pending the outcome of HB-1224. They’re not going to wait till July 1 to change their internal policies.

      Colorado gun shops are going to be even more bare-shelved than they were before, and there’s nothing the local shops can do about it. If there’s no product being sent for them to stock up on, there’s nothing to sell.

  15. Hopefully some group will do like what was done with the Michigan Emergency Manager law last year, get an injunction to stop it until the voter referendum can be voted on, and word the referendum such that a Yes vote would be required to keep the law in effect (people tend to vote ‘no’ on ballot initiatives if they are not genuinely in favor of them).

    • There can’t be a referendum on it. As per Colorado law, the “immediate emergency and safety” clause at the end of these bills makes them immune to referendum.

      The only “ballot initiative” which is being talked about, is that of a state constitutional amendment, to be on the ballot next year (still not guaranteed) , which (as proposed) says “ammunition caps can only be decided by the voters”. Yes or no.

      The way that must be worded, for it to be a success, people would have to be ‘yes’, because it is a change. Also, the way it works in Colorado, a “Yes” is always ‘a change to the status quo’, whereas ‘No’ is always keeping the status quo. That is how ballot initiatives *must* be written here.

      So we have a strange system here, but there it is. And it means the odds are against us.

        • Personally I don’t think ANY bill should be immune to referendum, but apparently that language went in way before my time on this earth.

  16. I think maybe they forget. Dylan Klebold, on of the Columbine, CO shooters left 13 ten rnd mags behind… Guess he was in compliance with the AWB back then

  18. Magpul summed it up…………Colorado is now “occupied territory”, but a a free thinking native, I will not comply.

  20. He didn’t buy the state. It got Californicated. Bloomberg probably wasted his money. The Donkey’s had the votes without his money. It was like he spent a couple of million dollars buying a Democrat congressional district with a a Democrat. Let’s hope he keeps spending his money in places where he is going to win anyway.

  21. Dear Governor Bootlicker: FOAD!!! Go jump off a tall bridge into a dry riverbed. Pull your head out of your ass!! Go fly a kite!!!
    And: Go out into the public and explain to each law abiding gun owner how you are going to make up for the lost revenue that is going to occur from Magpul hauling ass out of your state, be sure to assure them that they will be just fine!!! Please send TTAG a video of these interviews!!

  22. So, are magazines bigger than 15-rounders grandfathered? If so, the new law is completely unenforceable. Barring a national law that puts a date stamp on the mags they cannot police it. Pretty dumb actually. What are they smoking over there???

    • The typical solution for unenforceability is to wait a few years and pass a law requiring disposition of the previously grandfathered magazines. This is what has happened in NY and seems to be contemplated in CA right now. When it pours it rains, it may just take a while for this fact to become apparent. Also, how long before CO goes for an AWB?

      • CO dems tried for a ‘de-facto’ AWB with Morse’s SB-196.(Assault weapons ‘liability’ bill – Think ‘gun shops can be sued for selling an AR if it ever kills anyone’) It failed; they killed it because they knew didn’t have enough votes.

        Not saying we don’t have to be vigilant, but even 1229 and 1224 were close. It’s not like the majorities in both houses are overwhelming. We’re talking 5 in the House and 4 in the Senate. The bills passed by I believe, 3 in the House and 1 in the Senate.

    • Not only are they grandfathered the burden onto prove you didn’t own them before the ban lies with the police. Absolutely no way to enforce this stupid unconstitutional law.

      • I would guess that there will be quite a few folks who troop up I-25 to Cheyenne to fulfill their appetite for normal mags.

        • I would never, ever, ever do such a thing. That would be illegal. Illegal I tell you!

          Just like I’d *never* accidentally scuff a pmag at the range right were the date stamp is.

          Why, not in a million years!

        • Or go a few miles west to the firearm utopia of UT. It’s weird though, all my mags fell off the shelf like dominoes onto the unprotected (and running) grinding wheel. I would’ve lost them all, but fortunately the date stamps sacrificed themselves for the good of the whole. Crisis averted. Seriously, all the mag ban does is make me have to drive for mags instead of having them shipped to my front door. It’s not THAT much of a inconvenience. Add this to the huge pile of useless laws.

  23. Well old ‘pooper sure turned that into a big photo op, didn’t the scumbag? How he must like suckling at the Bloomberg teat

    Rimfire= Old Jim D

  24. We can take this to the courts, and I think that we should attack on every front available to us but the only way to make the democrats fear us again is with a display of political power in 2014. They will stop messing with us when the re-learn the lesson that we can take their jobs and political power away from them.

    • Unfortunately, laws in place are vastly harder to fight than bills being debated. Even when the Democrats lose their Trifecta (House, Senate, Governorship) in 2014, the damage is already done. Every election should have an emphasis of split power. Only one more GOP seat in the state Senate would have negated all of this.

  25. Guns & Ammo recently ranked the best states for gun owners in 2013. This is excellent information for anyone who is contemplating a move to a friendlier state. The article can be read here.

  26. Magpul needs to make sure any state they move to is solidly RED.

    That means a Republican governor, and a solidly Republican legislature. Also, check presidential elections as well.

    Blue states need not apply.

  27. I did my part, sent 10 standard capacity mags to Operation Mountain Standard. Mostly for Handguns I no longer own and a few British Imperial Defense.
    Good Karma to pass on.
    -From the still free state of Washington.

  29. COMMIERADO has joined my list of no good COMMIE states. Now the U.S. is down to 40 states, and I’m sure a few more will be joining the no good COMMIE state list.

  30. As we all know, this law will not prevent crime. Instead it may turn people into criminals who simply handle a magazine (as explained by Jon Caldara of the Independence Institute). What’s next on the agenda? Will Colorado create a law that defines thoughtcrime?

    • …”Instead it may turn people into criminals who simply handle a magazine (as explained by Jon Caldara of the Independence Institute).”

      Don’t worry – DC has already shown that if the “right” people handle a magazine, as David Gregory did when he waggled a 30 round GI AR mag in Wayne LaPierre’s face, there are no repercussions. Gregory and his staff faced no negative repercussions for possession of the illegal device in DC, while others without the political / professional clout and sanction by local .gov can receive up to a year in prison for the same act. “A nation of laws, not men” is a bygone concept these days. Your legality and freedom from prosecution by the omnipotent state is now dependent on whether or not you have the right set of beliefs, as defined by the omnipotent state in some locations.

  33. Hypothetically, if someone in Georgia were to sell a 30 round magazine on GunBroker to someone in Colorado, what would happen to the person in Georgia? In other words, why should or how could a person from one state be required to follow the laws in another state when he or she is not physically in that state? It would be very difficult, to impossible, for a private seller to know the laws in every state to sell an item in an online auction that is legal in his or her state and legal under federal law.

  34. I am ashamed to be a Colo. native. Colorado was once a decent place when Denver was a “Cow Town.” “Dickinlicker” is doing just that for “Obummer”.

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