On February 8, the Transportation, Housing & Local Government committee advanced House Bill 1165, “County Authority to Prohibit Firearms Discharge”. The title of this bill is misleading. What it leaves out is “on your own property”. This bill allows counties to take away your right to fire your guns on your own property. Citing noise complaints and safety concerns, bill sponsors Rep. Judy Amabile (D) and Rep. Sonya Lewis (D), managed to advance this bill through the committee phase.
Quickly addressing the claim of safety concerns, Rep. Ty Winter (R) asked “Is there anything to back these claims up where somebody has been injured, a bullet has landed by them?” To which Rep. McCormick responded, “The only evidence, that is one of the pieces, is the complaints that are coming to the sheriff’s departments with the inability to have the tools to do anything about it.” She did not directly address any safety incidents.
Rep. Winter then addressed the noise complaints concern, “Maybe you guys ought to make an amendment to make suppressors legal. If it’s a sound issue”
This bill already has issues concerning the Second Amendment and property rights. It is also near impossible to enforce, even according to county commissioner George Marlin, a proponent of this bill. “It’s really problematic to enforce…It’s nearly impossible to enforce.”
Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners Taylor Rhodes, an opponent of this bill, describes it as the following:
“As this bill is written, it would grant localities additional power to restrict activities of law-abiding citizens on private land. This bill is presented as a simple tool in the toolbox for county commissioners. But in reality, it is another example of law makers treating good, honest, law-abiding Coloradoans like criminals for merely exercising their Second Amendment freedoms.”
House Bill 1165 advanced this committee in a 9-4 vote.