Colorado State Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg said Tuesday that the state Democrats are working on a bill that would repeal the 2003 state law which preempts local gun restrictions.
Fenberg, a senator from Boulder, where a mass shooting claimed the lives of ten Monday, says that senators had previously been discussing revocation of the 2003 law, but the talks accelerated in “the last 18 hours,” the Denver Post reported.
A district court judge in Boulder ruled March 12, nine days prior to the shooting, that the city’s 2018 ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines was not enforceable due to the 2003 state law, which states that “a local government may not enact an ordinance, regulation, or other law that prohibits the sale, purchase, or possession of a firearm that a person may lawfully sell, purchase, or possess under state or federal law.”
“The Court has determined that only Colorado state (or federal) law can prohibit the possession, sale and transfer of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines,” the judge wrote in his ruling.
“This should not just be yet another shooting where we have thoughts & prayers & then move on. We need to do something more, we need to pass policy. Some folks would say it’s too soon, but I would say it’s way too late.”@SteveFenberg spoke w/ @BWilliams on @MSNBC last night ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/xNM3blCQxA
— Colorado Senate Dems (@COSenDem) March 23, 2021
“It’s not like if the city of Boulder had had that ban in effect, that this wouldn’t have happened. But it doesn’t mean it’s not a relevant conversation and tool that communities should have,” Fenberg commented on the proposed bill’s objective, according to the report.
“If you add another bill of what, 50,000 that we have nationwide, is that going to make a difference? From my perspective, it makes more sense to look at the root of the problem. The root of the problem seems to be mental health,” Republican Colorado State Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg said, KDVR reported.