Colorado State Representative Rhonda Fields, speaks to a colleague during a debate. Fields said she was shocked that her bill addressing cyberbullying failed this week at the Colorado Legislature (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

DENVER | Exactly eight months after dozens of people were shot in a suburban Denver movie theater, Gov. John Hickenlooper will sign new restrictions on firearms in Colorado, signaling a historic change for Democrats who traditionally shied away from taking on gun control in a state where owning a gun is as common as owning a care in some rural areas.

Colorado State Representative Rhonda Fields, speaks to a colleague during a debate period for a gun control bill which she sponsored, inside the Colorado State Legislature, in Denver, Friday March 15, 2013. A landmark expansion of background checks on firearm purchases was approved Friday by lawmakers in Colorado, a politically moderate state that was the site of last year's gruesome mass shooting at a suburban Denver movie theater. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
Colorado State Representative Rhonda Fields, speaks to a colleague during a debate period for a gun control bill which she sponsored, inside the Colorado State Legislature, in Denver, Friday March 15, 2013. A landmark expansion of background checks on firearm purchases was approved Friday by lawmakers in Colorado, a politically moderate state that was the site of last year’s gruesome mass shooting at a suburban Denver movie theater. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
Colorado State Representative Rhonda Fields, speaks to a colleague during a debate period for a gun control bill which she sponsored, inside the Colorado State Legislature, in Denver, Friday March 15, 2013. A landmark expansion of background checks on firearm purchases was approved Friday by lawmakers in Colorado, a politically moderate state that was the site of last year’s gruesome mass shooting at a suburban Denver movie theater. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

The Democratic governor plans to sign new limits on ammunition magazines and a landmark expansion of background checks on Wednesday in his office, surrounded by legislative sponsors and their guests. The signings will mark a significant moment in Colorado, a state with a moderate streak and a pioneer tradition of self-reliance.

Over the last month, Colorado has been viewed as a test for how far the nation is willing to go on new restrictions after the horror of shootings at a Connecticut elementary school and in a movie theater in Aurora, Colo. There, eight months ago on July 20, a gunman dressed in body armor and carrying an arsenal of firearms killed 12 people and wounded dozens of others.

The shootings convinced Hickenlooper, a gun rights advocate, and other state Democrats to take on gun control.

“I am happy the governor is signing common-sense legislation that reduces gun violence in our communities by keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, domestic violence offenders and the seriously mentally ill,” said Democratic Rep. Rhonda Fields, who represents the district where the theater shooting happened.

Colorado Democrats have succeeded where other lawmakers outside of New York have not.

This month, Washington State’s Democrat-controlled House couldn’t advance a universal background check bill. A bill requiring background checks at gun shows in New Mexico also failed in the Democrat-led Legislature.

The bills getting Hickenlooper’s signature are centerpieces of a package of Democratic gun bills introduced this session. With his signature, gun sales and transfers between private parties and purchases conducted online will be subjected to background checks. Ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds will be banned and subject to criminal penalties. Both bills take effect July 1.

Lawmakers debated firearms proposals after the Columbine High School shootings in 1999, and began requiring background checks for buyers at gun shows. But nothing they did then was as sweeping as the proposals they took up this year.

Republicans have warned that voters will punish Hickenlooper and other Democrats who voted in favor of the measures.

“I’m telling you, they have overreached, and there are going to be electoral consequences,” said Republican Sen. Greg Brophy.

A Colorado-based manufacturer of magazines plans to relocate because of the new restrictions. Republicans have bashed Democrats, saying their proposal to limit magazine sizes will drive jobs from the state, and ultimately won’t prevent criminals from getting larger magazines in other states.

Some county sheriffs also opposed the new background checks, arguing they’re unenforceable and endanger people’s Second Amendment rights. Two ballot measures have already been proposed to try to undo the gun restrictions.

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Associated Press Writer Kristen Wyatt contributed.

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6 replies on “Hickenlooper to sign landmark gun bills”

  1. I beg to differ with Representative Fields.

    The ancient Romans to solve drunkenness, and violence that caused deaths at dinner parties created a master of drinking, and required a Master of Drinking to be at every Roman dinner party. A common sense approach.

    Horace describes the duties of the Master of Drinking. The Drinking Master not only told every guest at the dinner party how much they had to drink, he also made sure everyone drank the same amount of wine. The end result wast that those who had been abstemious now became as dipsomaniac as the drunkards.

    These new gun laws will be as effective at curbing gun violance as the Master of Drinking was in curbing drunkenness at Roman dinner parties.

  2. Hickenlooper’s actions will be as treasonous as Rhonda Fields. I pray they will be held accountable. These gun laws would not have prevented her sons murder. These laws will open the state of Colorado to higher murder, rape, and violent crime rates by reducing the number of citizens who can lawfully protect themselves.

    Jason

  3. When does Hickenlooper’s term of office end. None too soon to please me. After 70 years in Colorado, I’m seriously thinking about moving to Texas, where the State Government seems to listen to the people. In Hickenloopers’ eyes, I believe that anyone who is not a democrat is invisible. We will see!

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