Colorado’s new gun control law–a gun ban that tries to pretend it’s not a gun ban–has already been signed by “libertarian” Democrat Gov. Jared Polis. It’s the law and will go into effect.
That means people in the state will have to bend the knee and ask, “If it pleases the Crown, might I purchase a semi-automatic handgun for self-defense,” and pray that it’s granted…as well as jump through numerous other hoops.
Republicans in Colorado opposed the measure, but they lost the fight. Now, they’re asking for Attorney General Pam Bondi to step in with the big guns.
Less than a week after Gov. Jared Polis signed Colorado’s latest gun-control law, Republicans in the legislature announced Wednesday they have asked the federal government to investigate whether the measure infringes on the U.S. Constitution.
Republicans in the Colorado House of Representative say they have sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi asking her to review the law’s constitutionality through the Department of Justice’s newly-created Second Amendment Enforcement Task Force.
“When state leaders ignore constitutional concerns and refuse to even allow a resolution requesting judicial review, federal oversight becomes not only appropriate, but absolutely necessary,” Rep. Ryan Armagost, a Berthoud Republican, said at a news conference Wedneday at the Colorado Capitol.
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House Republicans argue the egislation is unconstitutional because it undermines the Second Amendment. In their letter, they called the law’s passage “an emergency” for Coloradans’ self-defense and that they “are calling on the federal administration to aid our efforts in challenging the constitutionality” of the measure.
They were joined for Wednesday’s announcement by several county sheriffs who support involving the federal government.
“We have to do anything and everything we can to find out if there’s a way to overturn this,” said Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams, a Republican. “If we really want to focus on preventing crime, we need to focus on how to hold criminals accountable and keep them in jail and prison longer for the crimes that they commit.”
Honestly, while permit-to-purchase requirements aren’t particularly rare, most of them are basically “shall issue” things, even if there’s a training requirement or something else that prospective purchasers have to do before buying a firearm.
Colorado’s measure has a discretionary element to it, where law enforcement can just decide they don’t want you to have a firearm at all. Now, maybe it’s just me, but that seems subjective, and the Bruen decision specifically addressed subjective standards in issuing any kind of permit needed to exercise the right to keep and bear arms.
As such, this is an ideal place for the Second Amendment Enforcement Task Force to direct its attention.
The fact that it’s on the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms “dirty dozen” list is a fact that’s not lost on me in the least.
For what it’s worth, I’m joining the call to ask that Bondi step in and launch an investigation and potentially block this legislation from going into effect. This is a horrendous infringement of the right to keep and bear arms and goes well beyond anything permitted under the history, text, and tradition standard laid down in Bruen.
Read the full article here
