ALERT: Colorado Gun Purchase Fee

[coloradokevin]

http://www.denverpost.com/statehouse08/ci_13147788

In the quest to close Colorado's budget gap, Gov. Bill Ritter today is expected to unveil a number of deep cuts and cost-saving measures, including one that would charge gun buyers a fee for state-run background checks.

The background-check fee is a $500,000 drop in a nearly $400 million bucket, but it's sure to spark protest from pro-gun advocates who opposed the $15 fee when it was proposed earlier this year.

Looks like Governor Ritter is trying to institute a $15 background check fee for gun purchases here in Colorado. Sorry if this post is a repeat, but the article was written today, and I didn't see any other threads on this topic so far.

Unfortunately, I'm not really clear on where this fee will be applied. Some folks have said that it will be applied to the background check that is performed when guns are purchased (as my thread title implies), while others are saying that it will only be relevant to CCW permits (which already have fees). Regardless, I don't really feel inclined to pay any more government fees for exercising this particular right!

So, my fellow Coloradans, how do we fight this particular battle?

 

[RobNDenver]

Kevin,

It appears that this will be a fee for a NICS background check, effectively adding $15 bucks to the cost of every gun purchased in Colorado. You likely remember that last legislative session a bill to exempt CHL holders from the background check was passed by the legislature but vetoed by the Governor. We can expect a similar bill to be introduced this year, with the same predictable result.

So now, when I buy a gun on Gunbroker the breakdown will be:

S&H $35, FFL Transfer Fee $15, NICS Background Fee $15 or a total of $65 for an internet purchase.

If I purchase the gun at a retail store the price will include sales taxes at 8.25% plus the $15 NICS fee. A five hundred dollar gun will cost me $555 or so.

 

[phonesysphonesys]

Ritter is going to say he has not raised taxes. But he is putting and raising fees everywhere he can. His popularity has gone down.
Help vote him out at the next election.

Semper Fi

 

[searcher451]

Oregon charges a $10 fee for background checks conducted by the State Police at the time of a gun purchase. The fee is the same, whether you buy one gun or five at the same time. If you come back later in the day and buy yet another gun, the fee this time is $5, IIRC. If you go out and buy a gun the following day, it's back to $10.

 

[SilverDollar]

Ritter Replacement

Gov. Ritter has raised so many fee's in Colorado that there are now seven candidates to replace him in the next election. I heard five of them speak this past weekend and all were strong Second Amendment supporters.

Vote the bum out.

 

[zombienerd]

I thought NICS was federal, how can the state charge you for the gun store calling Uncle Sam?

 

[scottgun]

If you are a registered voter in Colorado, please sign this online petition from Rocky Mountain Gun Owners against the new fee.

http://www.rmgo.org/petitions/ritterguntax.html



Edited to add: you can skip the donation part. This post isn't meant to solicit donations, but rather to show support to oppose the new fee.

 

[cuervo]

I thought NICS was federal, how can the state charge you for the gun store calling Uncle Sam?

Some states require that you go through their network instead of calling NICS directly, and then charge you for it.

 

[CoRoMo]

If I purchase a gun from Budsgunshop.com, and have it sent over to this old fellow's house, who still maintains his FFL, for transfer, how are they going to get this $15? Charge him for the BGC and he then has to add that to the $10 transfer fee?

 

[Birddog1911]

Just one more reason for me to despise that Obama worshiping twit. Thanks alot, Denver and Boulder, for giving us this leech.

 

[Furncliff]

I'm O.K. with this fee and will consider it part of my duty as a citizen. You spend more than that on a nice lunch. Well... a nice lunch in Denver.

Tom

Located:

as far as I can get from Denver and still be in Co.

 

[Robert]

Quote:
I thought NICS was federal, how can the state charge you for the gun store calling Uncle Sam?
Some states require that you go through their network instead of calling NICS directly, and then charge you for it.

Yup. When you call it in in CO you talk to the nice folks at the CBI.

 

[PTK]

I just saw this at a gunstore. Pissed off doesn't even come close...



HEY RITTER? WHY DON'T WE SCRAP THE CBI CHECK AND JUST USE NICS?!

 

[Robert]

I'm O.K. with this fee and will consider it part of my duty as a citizen. You spend more than that on a nice lunch. Well... a nice lunch in Denver.

Up to this point he has been adding fees to things like driving, which is a privilege not a right. My right to keep and bear arms says nothing about having to pay for it. It is bad enough we have to fill out the papers and wait but now we are supposed to pay for something that could be easily covered if the gov't had any idea what a budget truly was. No thank you. This man is a boil on the a$# of CO and we need to do everything possible to make sure he does not get reelected. Does a citizen really have to pay for rights? I know we do everyday, but why continue to accept it? What next, an email address to turn in non- citizens?

 

[rondog]

I read where he thinks this will generate $500 million for the state. Let's see, that would be what, 50 million gun purchases? In Colorado alone? Sure Bill, that's gonna happen.

Vote the s.o.b. out!

 

[scottgun]

I read where he thinks this will generate $500 million for the state. Let's see, that would be what, 50 million gun purchases? In Colorado alone? Sure Bill, that's gonna happen.

Those projections were made based on the number of sales during the Obama panic gun buying frenzy. Now that sales have leveled off, that will never happen. Ritter is going to have to have to come up with some more creative ways to steal our money.

 

[CoRoMo]

Contact Gov. Ritter

I just sent him a letter.

Anyone want to do something similar?

Call, fax, write, email, something, anything?

I suppose this would also affect the nonresidents who come here annually to hunt, if they need to replace their long gun.
If you know one, you might see if they'd like to contact Ritter.

Contact information is linked below.

http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/GovRitter/GOVR/1177024890452




Do SOMEthing.

 

[Birddog1911]

I'm O.K. with this fee and will consider it part of my duty as a citizen. You spend more than that on a nice lunch. Well... a nice lunch in Denver.

Tom

Your kidding with this, right? Duty as a citizen? You consider it a duty as a citizen to pay for a right just because the liberal state govt. can't come close to a budget, increase spending on B.S. programs, and sink our state further into debt?? I suppose you consider it your duty as a citizen to pay for welfare and health care for those too lazy to work, as well.

Guess we can't count on you to support our gun rights in this state.

 

[A. Mann a gun]

If I remember right the FBI did them for about 6 months here Colo. it was costing Colorado $2,000,000 or so a year to do it. So they let the FBI do it to save money. The FBI kept such bad records they let a man with a restraining order buy a gun he killed his three daughters then drove to a police sation with the bodies and pointed the gun at a police sation. Yes the police took him out. Within days CBI was doing backgroud checks again.

 

[coloradokevin]

And, to add to my thread:

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13154990

Gov. Bill Ritter proposes to save almost $19 million by letting as many as 3,100 inmates out of prison six months earlier than their mandatory release dates and halting the supervision of some parolees.

So, at work today we had a grim sort of laugh at the combination of events that are unfolding at the moment:

1) Guns will be harder for honest citizens to purchase
2) Criminals are being released by the thousands
3) Other criminals are playing the "get out of parole early" card
4) Many Colorado police departments are talking of lay-offs.

So, our perspective as officers is that this can't be a good thing for the citizens of this state. Still, I'm sure the criminals will be thrilled!

 

[natman]

If I purchase a gun from Budsgunshop.com, and have it sent over to this old fellow's house, who still maintains his FFL, for transfer, how are they going to get this $15? Charge him for the BGC and he then has to add that to the $10 transfer fee?

Precisely.

That's exactly how it is done in California, only the fee is $25.

Who benefits from conducting BGCs, the buyer directly or society-at-large? Clearly whatever benefits there are apply not to the buyer but to society-at-large. Then they, via the government, should pay the cost.

Buying a gun is a constitutional right. BGC fees are no more justified than poll taxes.

 

[tank mechanic]

I'm O.K. with this fee and will consider it part of my duty as a citizen. You spend more than that on a nice lunch. Well... a nice lunch in Denver.

 

[CoRoMo]

I agree tank.

If we accept these little nibbles, eventually we'll see our rights so regulated, restricted, permitted, and inhibited that they are barely visible. All in the name of 'falling in line for the common good'.

Oh wait. I think we're there.
I can faintly make out what used to be the 2nd Amendment.

 

[Suicide*Ride]

SilverDollar said: Gov. Ritter has raised so many fee's in Colorado that there are now seven candidates to replace him in the next election.

+1! Yep!! Gov. ritter is taxing/feeing himself right out of office!

FWIW - When I sold firearms in Ga. 10yrs ago, the fee @ the time ($5), was said to pay the hourly wages for the folks answering the phone. Fee, tax, or hourly wage... which is it?!!

One more thing.... the $15 fee is assessed regardless of the sale... in other words: even if the backround check comes back "disapproved" - the prospective buyer still must pay the $15. I've seen guys who buy a new whatever once a week, & will have a disapproved BC 10% of the time. :banghead:

It's just another reason to get a CCW!

SR

 

[jglcolosprgs]

2) Criminals are being released by the thousands

The fee is bad enough.

But, the release of prison imates has completely passed under the radar here in Colorado. The local news outlets have given Ritter a BIG pass on this one.

You are going to need a gun when all of these people get out of jail free.