Important information regarding pending Colorado gun control bills

[coloradokevin]

It is my understanding that a variety of gun ban bills will be heard in the Colorado State House Judiciary Committee this week. From what I understand, this committee has the power to kill the bills that may lead to far more restrictive gun laws in this state.

For those of you who are so inclined, here is the contact information for the members of this committee. The time to act is now.

Let them know how you feel about these proposals:

Rep. Daniel Kagan, Chair: 303-866-2921, [email protected]
Rep. Pete Lee, Vice Chair: 303-866-2932, [email protected]
Rep. John Buckner: 303-866-2944, [email protected]
Rep. Lois Court: 303-866-2967, [email protected]
Rep. Bob Gardner, 303-866-2191, [email protected]
Rep. Polly Lawrence, 303-866-2935, [email protected]
Rep. Mike McLachlan, 303-866-2914, [email protected]
Rep. Rep Carole Murray, 303-866-2948, [email protected]
Rep. Brittany Pettersen, 303-866-2939, [email protected]
Rep. Joseph Salazar, 303-866-2918, [email protected]
Rep. Jared Wright, 303-866-2583, [email protected]



(Moderators: I posted this in the general section since more people seem to look here for information)

 

[IlikeSA]

Thanks for posting this; it makes it easy to cut and paste the e-mail addresses.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Magpul agrees....

https://www.facebook.com/magpul/posts/428803833863947

Magpul Industries Corp. · 128,433 like this
15 hours ago ·

In addition to the national battle to protect our firearms rights, many states are currently engaged in their own fights. Here in CO, a state with a strong heritage of firearm and other personal freedoms, we are facing some extreme challenges to firearms rights. We have been engaged in dialogue with legislators here presenting our arguments to stop legislation from even being introduced, but our efforts did not deter those of extreme views.

After the NRAs visit last week, several anti-freedom bills were introduced by CO legislators, and a very aggressive timeline has been set forth in moving these bills forward.

The bills include:
HB 1229, Background checks for Gun Transfers--a measure to prohibit private sales between CO residents, and instead require a full FFL transfer, including a 4473.

HB 1228, Payment for Background Checks for Gun Transfers-- a measure that would require CO residents to pay for the back logged state-run CBI system (currently taking 3 times the federally mandated wait time for checks to occur) instead of using the free federal NICS checks.

And finally, HB 1224, Prohibiting Large Capacity Ammunition Magazines--a measure that bans the possession, sale, or transfer of magazines over 10 round capacity. The measures and stipulations in this bill would deprive CO residents of the value of their private property by prohibiting the sale or transfer of all magazines over 10 rounds. This bill would also prohibit manufacture of magazines greater than 10 rounds for commercial sale out of the state, and place restrictions on the manufacture of military and law enforcement magazines that would cripple production.

We'd like to ask all CO residents to please contact your state legislators and the members of the Judiciary Committee and urge them to kill these measures in committee, and to vote NO if they reach the floor.

We also ask you to show your support for the 2nd Amendment at the Capitol on Tuesday, Feb 12, for the magazine ban committee hearing and Wednesday,
Feb 13, for the hearing on the other measures.

Due to the highly restrictive language in HB 1224, if passed, and we remained here, this measure would require us to cease PMAG production on July 1, 2013.

In short, Magpul would be unable to remain in business as a CO company, and the over 200 jobs for direct employees and nearly 700 jobs at our subcontractors and suppliers would pick up and leave CO. Due to the structure of our operations, this would be entirely possible, hopefully without significant disruption to production.

The legislators drafting these measures do so in spite of the fact that nothing they are proposing will do anything to even marginally improve public safety in CO, and in fact, will leave law-abiding CO residents less able to defend themselves, strip away rights and property from residents who have done nothing wrong, and send nearly 1000 jobs and millions in tax revenue out of the state.

We like CO, we want to continue to operate in CO, but most of all, we want CO to remain FREE.

Please help us in this fight, and let your voices be heard!

We have included the contact information for the House Judiciary committee for your convenience:

House Judiciary Committee
Rep. Daniel Kagan, Chair: 303-866-2921, [email protected]
Rep. Pete Lee, Vice Chair: 303-866-2932, [email protected]
Rep. John Buckner: 303-866-2944, [email protected]
Rep. Lois Court: 303-866-2967, [email protected]
Rep. Bob Gardner, 303-866-2191, [email protected]
Rep. Polly Lawrence, 303-866-2935, [email protected]
Rep. Mike McLachlan, 303-866-2914, [email protected]
Rep. Rep Carole Murray, 303-866-2948, [email protected]
Rep. Brittany Pettersen, 303-866-2939, [email protected]
Rep. Joseph Salazar, 303-866-2918, [email protected]
Rep. Jared Wright, 303-866-2583, [email protected]

 

[JohnM]

I sure hope you guys down there in Colorado can get a handle on this rabid anti gun sentiment that is sweeping through.
It also rubs off on some of the idiots we have, especially in Cheyenne and Laramie.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

Elections have consequences and even if your guy is not anti-liberty, if his party is and they have the majority this is the result. Our best bet is that the Governor wants to get re-elected so most of this stuff will either be vetoed or not get signed.

 

[berettaprofessor]

Hopefully the blatent MagPul threat to pull out of Colorado will help. The politicians might not understand gun language, but they understand the loss of jobs to a local economy.

 

[CoRoMo]

All JC members contacted.

Hopefully the blatent MagPul threat to pull out of Colorado will help. The politicians might not understand gun language, but they understand the loss of jobs to a local economy.

It doesn't appear to have made an impact.

https://www.facebook.com/magpul/posts/428803833863947
We have been engaged in dialogue with legislators here presenting our arguments to stop legislation from even being introduced, but our efforts did not deter those of extreme views.

Some antis want nothing more than to force the gun and gun accessory manufacturers to leave the state. They couldn't care less about jobs.

 

[coloradokevin]

It has now come to my attention that we're able to provide testimony before the House Judiciary Committee prior to the official debate about these bills. Here's some information from the NRA on how to do so:

http://www.nraila.org/legislation/s...esday-and-wednesday-in-denver.aspx?s=&st=&ps=


Being as I've never done this before, I don't know how much of your day is required to provide such testimony, or if everyone present even gets the chance to talk. Regardless, we obviously need to have good gun owner representation at these hearings, lest our voice go unheard.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

From my past trips to the capitol you spend a lot of time waiting. If you have a Republican Representative or Senator you should contact them first and they can make arrangements for you, if you have a Democrat then I would not tell them you are coming but I would find them as soon as you are there and ask them if they are willing to represent your opinion too, not just theirs. Be polite.

 

[coloradokevin]

Steel Horse Rider,

Thanks for that information. Unfortunately this committee legislative session is tomorrow (I just found out about it when I posted earlier), so I might be a bit late for trying to contact my representative.

I have Republican Libby Szabo, and I believe she's fairly pro-gun from what I've heard (no idea if she has any voting history on this subject).

The thing is, it might be worth my time if I get a chance to speak down there. But, I've got a lot on my plate this week, and I sure don't want to waste the time if I'm just going to sit there all day and not get the chance to directly share my beliefs with the members of this committee (I've obviously already written to all of these people, but speaking to them face-to-face probably carries more weight).

 

[coloradokevin]

Does anyone know how we're stacking up in the court of public opinion/lobbying efforts on this one?

I'm sure the NRA, Magpul, and some others who've commented on this issue will be present, but I wonder what the other side's lobbying efforts are looking like. I've heard rumors that Bloomberg was planning to bring some money to the Colorado anti-gun fight (though for the life of me I can't figure out why Colorado is any of his business).

 

[mrvco]

The latest legislation (California and Colorado namely) seems to have dropped out of the main-stream "news". I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.