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Colorado Democrats are pushing a collection of gun control payments that mirror insurance policies in liberal states reminiscent of California however have overwhelmingly flown under the radar within the media, Second Amendment specialists say.
“This should be making national news as it doesn’t just impact Colorado, but the nation as a whole,” Ava Flanell, a firearms teacher in Colorado Springs, instructed Fox News Digital. “Lawmakers are using these outrageous bills as blueprints, changing the state names and implementing them across the country at a state level because they don’t have the votes to do it nationally.
“Last yr, it was Washington the place all of them handed, and the laws are decimating gun shops and not using a single optimistic affect on crime. Today, it’s Colorado. These identical payments will present up in different states tomorrow if we don’t come collectively as a complete to combat this.”
State Democrats are pushing a gun control blitz this year, including a bill that would ban so-called “assault weapons,” which is typically understood as a semi-automatic rifle, like an AR-15; enact an 11% tax on gun and ammunition sales; and increase standards for concealed handgun training classes. Another bill would prohibit gun owners from carrying in “delicate” areas, reminiscent of parks, banks and faculty campuses.
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Ava Flanell, owner and founder of Elite Firearms & Training in Colorado Springs. (Ava Flanell )
The bills are under consideration by lawmakers in the state’s General Assembly, where the Democratic Party controls both chambers. The state’s governor, Jared Polis, is also a Democrat, meaning the party has a Democratic trifecta in the Centennial State.
Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis recently commented on the “proud” legacy of the Gadsden flag after a young student in his state was kicked out of class for wearing one on his backpack. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
The state’s House Judiciary Committee in March advanced a bill that would ban “assault weapons,” sending the bill to the full House, where it’s anticipated to receive support from the Democratic majority.
Out of the legislation introduced this year, Flanell took issue with the state’s move to ban types of semi-automatic firearms.
“The so-called ‘assault weapons’ ban invoice is essentially the most regarding, however all of them have tragic penalties for law-abiding residents. The ‘assault weapons’ invoice is extremely misleading. They wish to ban not solely each form of ‘scary’ gun like ARs and AKs, but additionally 80-90% of semi-automatic firearms in style as we speak, together with handguns and shotguns,” Flanell said.
She said the language in the bill is broad and would ban not only the guns, but also firearm features such as “a foregrip, adjustable inventory, pistol grip, barrel shroud.”
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“The invoice sponsors declare these options improve lethality, when, in reality, they don’t. They’re merely beauty. A muzzle brake, which might be interpreted as a compensator, is one other attribute lawmakers have determined to make a firearm ‘extra deadly.’ Muzzle brakes are one of the in style options to tame recoil and are rising in reputation amongst feminine shooters, those that lack higher physique power or have bodily limitations.”
Antonia Okafor, the founder and president of a nonprofit firearm education group called EMPOWERED, told Fox News Digital Colorado’s moves to ban guns such as AR-15s would leave women especially vulnerable to crime.
“After seven years of coaching ladies, it is abundantly clear that ladies favor an AR-15 for the protection of their residence, their household and themselves,” Okafor, a sexual assault survivor, told Fox News Digital.
“Despite the anti-gun rhetoric pushed by the media and gun control organizations, the AR-15 permits ladies to have a bigger firearm with out having to bodily take up as a lot recoil as a smaller, handheld firearm. The AR-15 makes it simpler for many who have a bodily drawback to have an higher hand in opposition to an attacker and creates a bigger perimeter of safety. Simply put, a firearm ranges the taking part in discipline.”
The bill, co-sponsored by Democratic state representatives Elisabeth Epps and Tim Hernandez, both from Denver, defines an “assault weapon” as a “semiautomatic rifle that has the capability to simply accept a removable journal, or that could also be readily modified to simply accept a removable journal, and has a number of of the next traits,” including features such as a pistol grip or thumbhole stock and “any characteristic able to functioning as a protruding grip that might be held by the non-trigger hand.
AR-15 type rifles are displayed on the market at a gun retailer. (REUTERS/Bing Guan)
“The bill defines the term ‘assault weapon’ and prohibits a person from manufacturing, importing, purchasing, selling, offering to sell, or transferring ownership of an assault weapon,” the invoice’s abstract states. “The bill further prohibits a person from possessing a rapid-fire trigger activator. A person in violation of the prohibitions will be assessed a first-time penalty of $250,000 and $500,000 for each subsequent violation.”
Hernandez stated the invoice changing into legislation would shield the group from mass shootings.
“The vast majority of Americans and over 80% of Democrats support an assault weapons ban and are fed up with weapons of war in our communities,” Hernandez stated after the invoice handed by way of committee. “My entire childhood, I was afraid to die in school because adults wouldn’t be bold enough on guns, and those fears only grew when I became a teacher and I saw my students struggle with those same anxieties. We must take action to protect our communities, especially our students, from the death and destruction assault weapons inflict on so many innocent people.”
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Flanell instructed Fox News Digital Colorado’s “anti-gun lawmakers are undoubtedly out of contact with Americans’ assist of the Second Amendment,” citing how the U.S. lately grew to become a constitutional carry majority nation.
“Twenty-nine states currently have constitutional carry. While over 50% of the country recognizes the Constitution, states like Colorado are going backwards,” Flanell stated. “Our homicide by firearm rate has surpassed the national rate for the first time in over 40 years, while states who have passed constitutional carry are seeing a decrease.
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Colorado State Capitol in Denver (John Greim/Loop Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
“This comes after Colorado lawmakers have already enacted gun control measures reminiscent of common and expanded background checks, journal capability limits, protected storage, crimson flag laws, and many others. And the state has even created their very own Office of Gun Violence Prevention. The identical pattern of upper crime with extra restrictive gun laws has been confirmed repeatedly in different states, and politicians refuse to acknowledge that the firearm violence occurring is overwhelmingly not from authorized firearm homeowners.”
Just last month, Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed 30 gun control bills, including one that would have made it a misdemeanor to import, sell, manufacture, purchase or transfer so-called “assault firearms” and another that would have banned guns on college campuses and buildings owned by public universities and institutions of higher education. Democrats in that state hold control of the General Assembly but do not have enough votes to override the Republican governor’s vetoes.
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Flanell is the founder and owner of Elite Firearms & Training in Colorado Springs, which she opened in 2013 after the death of her mother, who also was a gun instructor in the state, Flanell told Fox News Digital.
“In 2012, my mother, who was a firearms teacher, sadly handed away. I moved again to Colorado from New York City, the place I had been dwelling for eight years, to assist my dad with the household companies. Every week earlier than my mother handed away, I shot my first firearm along with her instruction. At that level, I knew little or no about firearms and was decided to study as a lot as I might, so I might assist hold my mother and father’ companies alive and thriving,” she said.
She told Fox Digital that from what she heard from fellow law-abiding gun owners and supporters of the Second Amendment, “the general public is fed up” with the state’s push to enact further gun control measures.
A woman aims a gun at a gun shop. (Miguel Schincariol/AFP via Getty Images)
“Roughly 600 folks signed as much as testify in opposition to the ‘assault weapons’ ban invoice, and testimony was lower at 12 hours with a whole bunch nonetheless ready to testify,” Flanell said. “Colorado has over 2,500 federal firearms licensees, which suggests they’ve a license to promote firearms. In my opinion, each one in all these folks ought to have been standing on the Capitol combating this as it’ll undoubtedly decimate their enterprise if this legislation passes. Understandably, many really feel exhausted by the fixed assaults on their rights, however proper now is not the time for any gun homeowners or shops to be complacent.”
Yet another bill under consideration, HB 24-1310, would repeal an existing exemption and prevent school staff such as teachers from carrying on school grounds.
“Colorado legislation at present permits for particular person college districts to find out their very own armed safety protocols, one thing that is usually utilized by constitution faculties and rural districts throughout the state,” Flanell said. “I’ve personally licensed college workers to hold on college grounds. One explicit college is situated over 20 miles from their sheriff’s workplace. If there’s an lively shooter, kids and employees don’t stand an opportunity in the event that they relied on legislation enforcement response.”
Flanell cited research showing most mass shootings unfold in “gun-free zones” where criminals are less likely to be confronted by an armed good Samaritan.
The “assault weapons” ban bill, combined with a bill that would assess gun and ammo sales with an 11% tax and a bill that would prevent legal gun owners from carrying guns in areas defined as “delicate,” such as college campuses, parks and places of worship, resembles legislation signed into law in California.
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The Golden State earlier this year called on a federal circuit court to reverse a lower court’s decision on California’s ban on semi-automatic weapons after the law was found unconstitutional. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom last year also signed into law an 11% state tax on guns and ammo and another bill that prevents gun owners from carrying in areas described as “delicate.” California is the only state in the nation with the additional tax.
Washington state also went on a recent gun control blitz, with the governor signing bills into law that banned “assault weapons,” enacted a 10-day waiting period to buy a gun and requires gun makers and dealers to take “affordable steps” to keep guns from “harmful people.”
A view of the Rocky Mountains at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Dukas/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Flanell said the bill that would ban “assault weapons” is the “scariest” piece of gun control legislation but noted she’s watching the other bills as well. She argued the bill that would tax gun owners 11% to purchase guns and ammo would have drastic effects on lower-income Americans who want to protect themselves.
“Most of those proposed payments in Colorado will harm the underprivileged essentially the most, making certain solely the rich can shield themselves or specific their constitutionally protected proper,” Flanell said. “Firearms are not cheap, averaging a bit of greater than $500 every. When you add an 11% tax to that and on ammunition, it provides up shortly. Especially for somebody to take care of proficiency with their firearm. They must apply, they usually can’t afford it at a time when most Americans are dwelling paycheck to paycheck.”
Flanell argued the tax is a “sin tax,” adding, “self-defense is not a sin; self-defense is a human proper.”
“Another pending invoice, HB24-1270, requires gun homeowners to get legal responsibility insurance coverage,” Flanell said. “Not solely does this improve the price for gun homeowners, however I feel will probably be tough to discover a firm that will cowl them, making the few firms that do a monopoly. As we’ve seen with banks, many retailers refuse to do enterprise with gun shops and gun-related equipment and coaching, usually dropping accounts with out discover.
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“My goal was and has always been to help people learn in a safe, fun environment, but I really wanted to be a resource and role model for women.”
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