The Colorado Senate passed two gun bills on to Governor Jared Polis for his signature. You’ll notice I didn’t say anything about PRO-gun or ANTI-gun, because I’m just not sure. At first glance, the bills look like opposites.
The one bill I know is ANTI bans open carry of firearms in or near voting locations. Voting is a fundamental right, as is gun ownership, but legislators don’t feel owning guns is of the same level of importance. You can open carry in most locations in Colorado, just not when you vote. If I ‘member right, Denver also has a ban citywide.
The second bill is PRO to me, and I wonder how it even got out of committee. In this bill, all 7th graders in middle schools in the state will have the opportunity to take Hunter Education. It has to be an approved program taught by an approved instructor. Hunter Ed programs also have a shooting requirement as a standard part of the normal program for youth and adults, but parents would have to sign to approve instruction that added a shooting component. Maybe that’s the ANTI part of this whole thing – I see a lot of schools trying to teach it (if they can find enough instructors), but not a lot of parents allowing the shooting. Guess something is better than nothing – we’ll see…..