Colorado lawmakers consider another expansion of red flag gun law
A bill expanding who can use Colorado's red flag gun law passed its first committee Tuesday at the Colorado State Capitol.
The law allows judges to order the seizure of guns from people who pose a significant risk of harm.
According to the Colorado Office of Gun Violence Prevention, between 2020-2024, there were 692 requests for what's known as an "Extreme Risk Protection Order," or an ERPO. A total of 478 of those requests resulted in the seizure of a person's guns for two weeks. Another 371 of them resulted in guns being seized for a year.
The state office says 37% of Coloradans own at least one firearm.
When the law was passed in 2019, only family members and law enforcement could ask for an ERPO. In 2023, the legislature added district attorneys, health care providers, teachers, professors, and school counselors to that list. Now, lawmakers are considering expanding the list further to include medical and behavioral health facilities, schools, colleges and universities.
About 70 people signed up to testify on the bill.
Teddy Collins, with the Colorado State Shooting Association, says the law is unconstitutional, noting the guns are initially seized without the owner being able to defend themselves.
"Under laws like this, accusation becomes enough. A grudge becomes enough. A political disagreement becomes enough. A cultural difference becomes enough. And once the accusation is made, the damage is already done," Collins said.
Opponents worry institutions with more liberal ideologies will file false petitions.
State Sen. Tom Sullivan, whose son Alex was murdered in the Aurora theater shooting, is sponsoring the bill.
He says less than 3% of petitions filed in Colorado have been false.
"It takes a lot of schooling, it takes a lot of time to become a therapist, to become a doctor, to become a teacher and a professor. It's not something you just do overnight. These people are not going to be throwing away their lives and their careers that they have worked on all this time in just an attempt to make some false accusation against somebody," he said.
Sullivan says the institutions requested the bill, which passed the Senate State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Committee 3-2, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.
