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Senate panel narrowly passes gun bill
Josey1
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Senate panel narrowly passes gun bill
'Shall-issue' measure wins on 5-4 vote
By Julia C. Martinez
Denver Post Capitol Bureau
Wednesday, May 01, 2002 - By a one-vote margin, the Senate Agriculture Committee passed "shall-issue" legislation Tuesday that would require county sheriffs to issue concealed weapons permits to eligible citizens.
Sen. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan, voted for House Bill 1410, even though the committee defeated her amendment to allow applicants to qualify for a permit by taking a hunter safety class instead of a handgun proficiency course.
The 5-4 vote to send the measure to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which will hear the bill Thursday, came after nearly three hours of testimony. Twice as many witnesses opposed the bill than supported it, including the Colorado Association of Police Chiefs, parents and Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter.
Ritter said the bill does not address the issue of mentally ill applicants and strips local jurisdictions of authority to restrict handguns in public places. No one on the Democrat-controlled committee offered an amendment on either issue.
Bill sponsor Sen. Ken Chlouber, R-Leadville, said that mentally ill people are covered under the federal provision of the bill, and that local governments would have the same authority they have now, although he noted that might be ambiguous.
"This is better from any perspective than the law on the books today," said Chlouber, explaining that current law gives sheriffs the discretion to deny permits to anyone.
HB 1410 would require sheriffs to issue permits to Colorado residents age 21 and over who pass a criminal background check, demonstrate handgun proficiency and are not alcoholics or drug addicts.
Tom Mauser, father of slain Columbine student Daniel Mauser, urged the committee to oppose the bill.
"I ask HB 1410 supporters to understand that many people do not feel that the answer to gun violence is to put more guns on the street," said Mauser. "For the past couple of generations, we've been putting more guns out there, and many of us have had to pay a high price for that."
The bill now moves to the Appropriations Committee, where people on all sides of the issue say Sen. Peggy Reeves, the Fort Collins Democrat who chairs the 10-member panel, is the critical vote.
Reeves wouldn't say how she'll vote, but underscored Tuesday that she has always opposed concealed-gun legislation. The bill is co-sponsored by Senate President Stan Matsunaka, a fellow Democrat from Larimer County who's running for Congress in the mostly rural 4th Congressional District.
Reeves denied rumors that Matsunaka was trying to "strong-arm" her to vote in favor, saying: "As a matter of fact, he hasn't put any pressure on me at all."
Musgrave, the legislator who observers predicted would determine whether the bill passed out of the committee, said she offered the hunter safety amendment after receiving a letter from Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden. Musgrave said that Alderden had issued more than 1,600 concealed-handgun permits and that he believed a hunter safety class was sufficient to obtain a permit.
Chlouber opposed Musgrave's proposal, saying a hunter safety class was "very minimal."
"My son took that when he was 12 or 13," Chlouber said. "That's not what people of Colorado would think is sufficient."
And fellow Republican Sen. Jack Taylor of Steamboat Springs commented that "hunter safety has nothing to do with handguns."
The amendment failed 7-2. Sen. Mark Hillman, who opposed the overall bill as too strict, voted with Musgrave on the amendment.
How they voted
The Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee voted 5-4 to approve House Bill 1410:
Voting yes: Ken Chlouber, R-Leadville; Bob Hagedorn, D-Aurora; Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus; Marilyn Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan; Jack Taylor, R-Steamboat Springs.
Voting no: Ken Gordon, D-Denver; Deanna Hanna, D-Lakewood; Mark Hillman, R-Burlington; Terry Phillips, D-Louisville.
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%7E61%7E582553,00.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
'Shall-issue' measure wins on 5-4 vote
By Julia C. Martinez
Denver Post Capitol Bureau
Wednesday, May 01, 2002 - By a one-vote margin, the Senate Agriculture Committee passed "shall-issue" legislation Tuesday that would require county sheriffs to issue concealed weapons permits to eligible citizens.
Sen. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan, voted for House Bill 1410, even though the committee defeated her amendment to allow applicants to qualify for a permit by taking a hunter safety class instead of a handgun proficiency course.
The 5-4 vote to send the measure to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which will hear the bill Thursday, came after nearly three hours of testimony. Twice as many witnesses opposed the bill than supported it, including the Colorado Association of Police Chiefs, parents and Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter.
Ritter said the bill does not address the issue of mentally ill applicants and strips local jurisdictions of authority to restrict handguns in public places. No one on the Democrat-controlled committee offered an amendment on either issue.
Bill sponsor Sen. Ken Chlouber, R-Leadville, said that mentally ill people are covered under the federal provision of the bill, and that local governments would have the same authority they have now, although he noted that might be ambiguous.
"This is better from any perspective than the law on the books today," said Chlouber, explaining that current law gives sheriffs the discretion to deny permits to anyone.
HB 1410 would require sheriffs to issue permits to Colorado residents age 21 and over who pass a criminal background check, demonstrate handgun proficiency and are not alcoholics or drug addicts.
Tom Mauser, father of slain Columbine student Daniel Mauser, urged the committee to oppose the bill.
"I ask HB 1410 supporters to understand that many people do not feel that the answer to gun violence is to put more guns on the street," said Mauser. "For the past couple of generations, we've been putting more guns out there, and many of us have had to pay a high price for that."
The bill now moves to the Appropriations Committee, where people on all sides of the issue say Sen. Peggy Reeves, the Fort Collins Democrat who chairs the 10-member panel, is the critical vote.
Reeves wouldn't say how she'll vote, but underscored Tuesday that she has always opposed concealed-gun legislation. The bill is co-sponsored by Senate President Stan Matsunaka, a fellow Democrat from Larimer County who's running for Congress in the mostly rural 4th Congressional District.
Reeves denied rumors that Matsunaka was trying to "strong-arm" her to vote in favor, saying: "As a matter of fact, he hasn't put any pressure on me at all."
Musgrave, the legislator who observers predicted would determine whether the bill passed out of the committee, said she offered the hunter safety amendment after receiving a letter from Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden. Musgrave said that Alderden had issued more than 1,600 concealed-handgun permits and that he believed a hunter safety class was sufficient to obtain a permit.
Chlouber opposed Musgrave's proposal, saying a hunter safety class was "very minimal."
"My son took that when he was 12 or 13," Chlouber said. "That's not what people of Colorado would think is sufficient."
And fellow Republican Sen. Jack Taylor of Steamboat Springs commented that "hunter safety has nothing to do with handguns."
The amendment failed 7-2. Sen. Mark Hillman, who opposed the overall bill as too strict, voted with Musgrave on the amendment.
How they voted
The Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee voted 5-4 to approve House Bill 1410:
Voting yes: Ken Chlouber, R-Leadville; Bob Hagedorn, D-Aurora; Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus; Marilyn Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan; Jack Taylor, R-Steamboat Springs.
Voting no: Ken Gordon, D-Denver; Deanna Hanna, D-Lakewood; Mark Hillman, R-Burlington; Terry Phillips, D-Louisville.
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%7E61%7E582553,00.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878