A year after Colorado’s legislature overhauled crime laws, lawmakers are working to roll back a portion of the legislation that effectively eased the ability of individuals convicted of a wide array of felony offenses to possess a gun.
One of the bill’s sponsors said last year’s crime overhaul went too far, and law enforcement advocates argued that new law, which took effect on March 1, is yet another policy that will make Colorado’s streets more dangerous amid an already-soaring crime rate.
“It was a huge bill. It was like an encyclopedia volume. So, they were bound to make a mistake,” said Rep. Matt Soper, R-Delta, a cosponsor of House Bill 22-1257, which adds about 60 felony offenses back on the list of convictions that make it illegal for a person to own a gun.
Adding more offense, Soper said, targets violent felonies that never should have been taken off the list.
“Just by definition alone, these are known people to the criminal justice system who are a danger to society and continue to be a danger to society,” Soper told Colorado Politics.
If enacted, the proposal would amend SB 21-271, last year’s dramatic overhaul of misdemeanor laws that narrowed down from hundreds the number of felony offenses under which a person, if convicted of that prior crime, would face additional penalties for possessing a gun to only charges identified in the Colorado’s Victim Rights Act. The latter includes about 50 of the most heinous and violent crimes, such as murder and rape.
HB 22-1257 would add to that list, among other offenses, sexual exploitation of a child on the internet or operating a child prostitution ring; arson; aggravated cruelty to an animal; terrorist training; insurrection or advocating for the overthrow of government, and membership in an anarchist or sedition group; human smuggling; and intentionally setting a wildfire. The bill would also penalize practicing specific professions, including engineering,…