Semi-auto firearm ban fails in Democrat-controlled Colorado

By JESSE BEDAYN
Associated Press/Report for America

DENVER (AP) — Colorado’s Democratic lawmakers have killed an ambitious bill that would have banned the sale and transfer of semiautomatic firearms, including some pistols, shotguns and rifles. The Democratic-controlled Legislature was split over the bill, which inflamed tensions between lawmakers’ urban and rural constituents and even set progressive liberals against moderates. The House Judiciary Committee vote followed an impassioned 14-hour hearing that began Wednesday morning and ended at 1 a.m. Thursday. The bill was proposed mere months after five people were killed at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs. The Legislature has already cleared a number of less ambitious gun control bills.