Colorado
Colorado House of Representatives passes ban on sale of assault weapons
Colorado’s House of Representatives passed HB 1292 Sunday by a vote of 35-27. The bill bans the sale and transfer of semiautomatic firearms within the state and will now head to the state senate.
The bill prohibits people from manufacturing, importing, purchasing, selling, offering to sell or transferring ownership of an “assault weapon.” The bill defines an assault weapon as a semiautomatic rifle that can accept a detachable magazine or can be “readily modified” to do so and has one or more of a list of specific characteristics. Some of these characteristics include a pistol grip or thumbhole stock, a folding, telescoping or detachable stock, a muzzle brake, a functional grenade launcher or flare launcher, a shroud attached to the barrel or a threaded barrel.
The bill’s assault weapon definition also contains a list of specific firearm types. The list includes AR-15s, which opponents like the NRA characterize the banning of as being unconstitutional, viewing it as an infringement on Second Amendment rights.
The bill also includes a list of individuals who are exempt from it. This list includes members of the military, peace officers, public museums and licensed gun dealers who sell their remaining inventory to an out-of-state resident. Individuals already in lawful possession of assault weapons are allowed to keep their firearms. The bill penalizes a person in violation with a first-time penalty of $250,000 and $500,000 for each subsequent violation.
The bill cites data that a federal assault weapon ban expired in 2004, leading to a place where “gun massacres skyrocketed by approximately one-hundred and eighty-three percent.” In 2022, the US Supreme Court ruled in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen that New York’s “proper cause” requirement to carry a concealed weapon violated the Fourteenth Amendment and thus struck the state’s law down, which helped bolster gun advocates. The Fourteenth Amendment requires states to follow the Second Amendment.
The state legislature introduced several bills after a shooting in Boulder, but these bills fizzled out and did not become law. Last week, Representative Elisabeth Epps said on X (formerly Twitter) before the bill passed, “Guns used in public mass casualty shootings have no place in society. We need a federal ban. But we can’t afford to wait on [C]ongress. Saving lives >>>saving seats.”
Multiple gun regulations were signed last year, like raising the age to 21 in Colorado after the most recent shooting at a nightclub. Colorado is where the 1999 Columbine mass shooting occurred, marking one of the first large-scale shootings in the US.
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Three-quarters of Colorado residents said they were worried about whether they would be able to afford to continue living in the state, according to a poll conducted this spring.
Last year, about 70% of people responding to the Colorado Health Foundation’s annual Pulse poll said they weren’t sure living here would remain financially feasible. That rose to 76% this year.
“That majority concern was cutting across regions, across income levels, across racial and ethnic groups,” said Lucia Del Puppo, senior vice president at FM3 Research, which works with Democrats.
The poll found that the majority of those sampled said they had already cut back on entertainment spending and charitable giving, with smaller shares saying they’d skipped meals, delayed medical or dental care, or paid a utility bill late.
Only about one in four people said they hadn’t changed their spending or dealt with a financial setback in the last year, with older people and Republicans reporting less budget strain.
“It’s significant and it affects the overall economy” when people reduce their discretionary spending, said Lori Weigel, principal of New Bridge Strategy, which works with Republicans.
The responses suggested a significant minority expected further financial strains in the coming year:
- About two in five worried they or a family member would lose health insurance
- Three in 10 worried about affording enough food
- One-third thought they might lose their housing because they couldn’t afford their mortgage or rent
Notably, more than half of renters were worried about whether they could continue to afford their housing, Weigel said. One-third said they’d avoided asking their landlords to fix problems to avoid rent increases, and one-quarter said they’d taken on high-interest debt, such as payday loans or credit card balances, to deal with housing costs, she said.
Lower-income people and those who identified as Black, Hispanic or Native American reported greater financial struggles than other groups.
Even people who haven’t had to cut back are worried about affordability. When asked to rate the seriousness of a list of potential problems, 85% said both the general cost of living and the cost of housing were either “very serious” or “extremely serious.” Additionally, 82% said the cost of health care was a very serious or extremely serious problem.
Younger people were particularly worried about housing costs, with 94% of millennials and 90% of Generation Z members describing the problem as very or extremely serious.
At the same time, when respondents got the chance to name the most important issue facing the state, the largest share — 28% — chose government and politics. The cost of living and inflation came close behind, with 25% deeming it the top issue.
Just one year ago, only 13% of people considered cost of living and inflation their top concern, Del Puppo said.
“It has jumped really since 2025,” she said.
The two may be related, as 72% of respondents said they weren’t satisfied with the government’s response to economic issues. The only question where a slight majority said they were satisfied with the state government’s performance was making the state “safe and welcoming” to everyone, Del Puppo said.
The poll asked more than 2,200 people about their personal finances, experiences with health care and perceptions of the state between March and April, then weighted their results to represent Colorado’s demographics.
As usual, both a Democratic and a Republican firm ran the poll, to reduce the risk of bias.
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