Colorado takes lead on tighter US gun laws

By IVAN MORENO
Published on 21/03/2013 00:00

EIGHT months after 12 people were shot dead in a Colorado cinema, the Democratic governor yesterday signed into law new restrictions on firearms in the state.

John Hickenlooper signed limits on the size of ammunition magazines and a landmark expansion of background checks. The signings mark a significant moment in Colorado, a state with a libertarian tradition of self-reliance.

Over the past month, Colorado has been viewed as a test for how far states are willing to go on new restrictions after the horror of shootings at a Connecticut elementary school and in a cinema in Aurora, Colorado.

There, on 20 July, James Holmes, 25, dressed in body armour and carrying an arsenal of firearms, killed 12 people and wounded dozens of others at a midnight showing of the Batman film The Dark Knight Rises.

In December, a massacre at Sandy Hook school in Connecticut left 28 dead and revived gun control as a top domestic issue. President Barack Obama proposed several gun safety measures a month later in response.

However, the push for a federal assault weapons ban has faltered in Washington, where the National Rifle Association gun lobby has powerful allies.

In Colorado, gun violence was again in the news yesterday, as police searched for a man who shot and killed the state’s prisons director, Tom Clements, at his home. Mr Hickenlooper, a gun rights advocate, and other state Democrats were convinced by the recent string of shootings to take on gun control.

From 1 July in Colorado, gun sales and transfers between private parties and purchases conducted online will now be subjected to background checks. Magazines that hold more than 15 rounds will be banned and subject to criminal penalties.