April 28 (UPI) — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Friday signed into law new gun regulations that would expand red-flag warnings and limit who can purchase a gun.
The bills passed with only Democratic support and come after several high-profile mass shootings in the state, specifically one at an LGBTQ club last year.
“No action can ever bring back the loved one that you lost,” Polis said, according to The Denver Post. “But turning your own personal tragedy into action in a way that will make others safer will really prevent others from having to go through what you went through.”
The bills restrict gun purchases to people 21 and older, create a three-day waiting period, and allow medical-care providers, mental health-care providers, educators, and district attorneys to alert authorities about potential shooter threats under red-flag laws.
The bills also remove liability protections for gun manufacturers in lawsuits.
Republicans were unified in their opposition, and gun-rights groups already have threatened to sue over the bills.
“Today, Colorado is less free and our citizens less safe and able to protect themselves,” House Minority Leader Mike Lynch, a Wellington Republican, said in a statement. “For law-abiding Coloradans, it’s a historically dark day — a day that many of our citizens, no matter their political party, thought impossible in their state.”
Rocky Mountain Gun Owners said Friday they have already filed challenges to the waiting period law and the law restricting purchases to those who are at least 21 years old.
“For the last few months, I’ve traveled the state promising our members we would sue over these unconstitutional gun control schemes, and today as the governor signs them into law, we are making good on our promises,” said Taylor Rhodes, Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners. “Gun owners’ rights are being ravaged in the Colorado legislature by the puppets of Everytown for Gun Control and Michael Bloomberg.
The new laws come after a shooting in November killed five people and injured 17 others at the LGBTQ nightclub Club Q in Colorado Springs. Anderson Lee Aldrich has been charged with 305 criminal counts related to the shooting.