Colorado “assault” weapons ban faces likely key vote in Senate from father of mass shooting victim

The proposed ban on the sale, transfer and manufacturing of many high-powered, semi-automatic guns in Colorado will face an uphill fight in the state Senate after clearing the state House for the first time.

The measure, House Bill 1292, would ban guns referred to as “assault” weapons by its Democratic sponsors. It now heads to a Senate committee that includes one of the most vocal gun violence prevention advocates in the state — who happens to be a longtime skeptic of the effectiveness of blanket prohibitions like the one proposed.

Sen. Tom Sullivan is also the father of a victim of one of the state’s most high-profile mass shootings, and the committee’s tight partisan makeup looks likely to position him as the key vote.

The bill, titled “Prohibit Certain Weapons Used in Mass Shootings,” would define “assault weapons” as certain semi-automatic rifles and firearms, based on whether and where they take detachable magazines and have other characteristics, such as off-hand grips or collapsible stocks. It would not ban the possession of the weapons, meaning firearms covered under the bill but already owned would remain legal to keep.

The bill would also prohibit the possession of rapid-fire trigger activators.

In a historic first for the policy, the bill passed the full House on Sunday. On Thursday, it was assigned to the Senate’s State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, which will vote by early May on whether to send the measure to the full Senate.

Democrats hold a 3-2 advantage on the committee. Two of its Democratic members, Sens. James Coleman and Chris Hansen, both of Denver, expressed general support for the concept Thursday morning, though they added that they hadn’t yet read the bill in detail.

The third Democrat — and possible deciding vote, given universal Republican opposition — is Sullivan, who lives in Centennial.

He’s been a proponent of firearm regulation since his son, Alex, was murdered in the Aurora movie theater shooting in 2012, and he’s backed several gun regulation bills in the past year alone.

But he consistently has stopped short of supporting a ban on so-called assault weapons.

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