Guns and Gear

Surprise: Colorado’s Ban On High-Capacity Magazines Is Easy To Skirt

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Greg Campbell Contributor
Font Size:

Colorado gun owners are easily circumventing the state’s ban on ammunition magazines capable of holding more than 15 rounds, a CBS Denver investigation discovered.

While the law, which went into effect last summer, makes it illegal to buy or sell typical 30-round magazines, some sellers have found creative ways around the law that render it all but meaningless.

At one gun store, an undercover producer for Denver’s CBS4 bought a “kit” for a 30-round magazine, which was essentially all its parts that simply hadn’t been assembled. It took the clerk less than 30 seconds to put it together, the station reported.

And at a gun show, the producer bought a magazine retrofitted so that it would only accept 15 bullets in order to comply with the new law. That retrofit is easily undone, however, allowing the magazine to hold up to 30 rounds.

An even simpler work-around is to buy the magazines in neighboring states, where their sale and possession is legal.

The investigation comes as little surprise to law enforcement officers. Colorado’s elected sheriffs opposed the bill from its inception, saying it would be unenforceable because magazines sold before the law went into effect are still legal to possess. Since they don’t have manufacturing dates stamped on them, it’s impossible for officers to tell when the magazines were bought and sold.

Democratic lawmakers proposed the ban in the wakes of the Aurora theater and Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, saying it was necessary to save lives in such situations. The theory is that the more frequently a shooter has to stop to reload, the more chances people have to escape or end the rampage.

Critics have called it a useless infringement on the rights of law-abiding gun owners that will do nothing to prevent mass casualties by those who are intent on harming others.

The often heated debate resulted in Colorado’s first-ever recalls of two Democratic state senators who were targeted for their support of the new law. A third senator resigned rather than face a recall election so that she could preserve the Democratic majority in the chamber.

Weld County Sheriff John Cooke, one of the most vocal opponents of the law, told CBS4 he wasn’t surprised by the station’s findings.

“People are going to find a way around it,” he said.

Follow Greg on Twitter

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel