CRITICAL COLORADO LEGISLATIVE ALERT!
Have you or someone you know ever been denied a firearms purchase because bureaucrats failed to maintain accurate and updated records? Over the past ten years, thousands of law-abiding Colorado citizens have been denied their Constitutional right to lawfully purchase a firearm thanks to Colorado’s policy of “deny-on-arrest,” which means that a record of a criminal charge alone is sufficient to prevent a person from purchasing a firearm. That’s right…if you have ever been charged with an offense that was reduced or dismissed, and the court failed to note that in the state criminal record database, you can be prevented from purchasing a firearm until you, not the state, proves that you are in fact eligible to possess a firearm! It is you, not the state (which was responsible for maintaining accurate records in the first place!), who must bear the cost and inconvenience of correcting the record. In some cases, this may be impossible due to lost or destroyed records. It’s not constitutional, it’s not fair, and it’s NOT RIGHT! “Deny-on-arrest” was scheduled to expire July 1 of this year, but anti-gun Democrats in the Colorado legislature have other ideas…
HB1391, sponsored by anti-gun Democrats in the General Assembly, would make “deny on arrest” PERMANENT! The unconscionable and unconstitutional policy of denying firearms purchases by persons whose criminal records are incomplete, the worst anti-gun legislation ever forced upon law-abiding Colorado gun owners, is set to expire in three months—but Democrat gun-control advocates in the General Assembly want to make it PERMANENT! Thousands of regular folks, perhaps even yourself, have had to spend months and thousands of their hard-earned dollars to correct/complete records that the State should have maintained in the first place just so they could purchase a firearm. ONLY IN COLORADO ARE GUN PURCHASERS PRESUMED GUILTY UNTIL THEY PROVE THEIR OWN INNOCENCE TO CBI—under federal law it is the burden of the government to establish that a purchaser is ineligible to possess a firearm if the purchaser’s criminal records are unclear or incomplete. The right to own a firearm is guaranteed by both the U.S. and Colorado Constitutions—why do citizens have to spend their own time and money to exercise that right? We all know someone who has been victimized by this egregious law—maybe even you yourself. Please call/write/email your state legislator (directory at www.leg.state.co.us ), especially the representatives listed below on the House Judiciary Committee where the bill will first be heard, and strongly but respectfully urge them to oppose any background check bill that continues “deny on arrest!” DON’T LET THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY CONTINUE TO TRAMPLE ON THE RIGHTS OF LAW-ABIDING COLORADO GUN OWNERS!
Claire Levy (D) 303-866-2578
Elizabeth McCann (D) 303-866-2959
Lois Court (D) 303-866-2967
Bob Gardner (R) 303-866-2191
Daniel Kagan (D) 303-866-2921
Steve King (R) 303-866-3068
Joe Miklosi (D) 303-866-2910
B.J. Nikkel (R) 303-866-2907
Sal Pace (D) 303-866-2968
Su Ryden (D) 303-866-2942
Mark Waller (R) 303-866-5525
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