Colorado approves sweeping gun control measures

Colorado, the state which has suffered two of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, has approved a raft of new gun laws.

After months of debate both chambers of the majority Democratic Colorado legislature approved a package of four gun-control measures yesterday.

The most controversial of the bills, now headed to the desk of Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper, is a ban on ammunition magazines with more than 15 rounds, which the governor said he will sign into law.



Reform: Colorado has passed four new gun control measures which include a ban on ammunition magazines with more than 15 rounds



Deadly history: People visit a memorial for the victims of the Colorado movie theatre shooting

The passage of the bills could push Colorado to the forefront of a national gun control debate reignited by several mass shootings last year, including the December massacre of 20 children and six adults at a school in Newtown, Connecticut.

President Barack Obama has put forward a number of gun control measures in the wake of the Newtown school shooting.

The sponsor of the Colorado magazine-limit bills, state House Representative Rhonda Fields, told fellow lawmakers in a floor debate on Wednesday the proposal was about 'saving lives.'


Next step: The laws will now head to Governor John Hickenlooper who has indicated he will support most of the measures

'These are weapons that should be used in a theater of war and not in our local theaters,' said Fields, a Democrat whose district includes the suburban Denver movie theater where a gunman killed 12 people in a shooting rampage last July.

Colorado was also the site of the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School, where two teenagers shot dead a teacher and 12 other students before committing suicide.

Other bills included in the package of gun-control laws approved by Colorado lawmakers included a measure to make firearm buyers pay for their own background checks and a ban on online certification for concealed-carry permits, both of which Hickenlooper has said he supports.

Another measure would bar gun purchases by people convicted of domestic violence crimes. Hickenlooper had previously said he was undecided about that until he could see the final version.

One remaining gun-control measure to require background checks for all firearms transfers was sent to a conference committee yesterday, so that both chambers could hash out differences between the Senate and House versions.

The proposals that won final approval had received little Republican support.

Republican House minority leader Mark Waller issued a statement after the bills' passage, calling Democrats 'out of touch' with their constituents.

'More than 200,000 Coloradans are out of work but Democrats are more concerned with passing legislation that will send hundreds of jobs out of our state without any increase in public safety to show for it,' Waller said in a statement.

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