GOP bills to bolster gun rights get initial OK

By Charles Ashby
Friday, February 10, 2012

DENVER — It unofficially was gun day Thursday at the Capitol as lawmakers approved bills dealing with guns in businesses, concealed handguns, and protections against taking guns away from people during a state-declared emergency.

The day began with the House giving preliminary approval to a bill that would extend to businesses the state law that allows for the use of deadly force against an intruder.

Supporters of the so-called Make My Day Better bill, primarily Republicans, said it makes sense to extend to business owners the same right as homeowners.

Democratic opponents, however, said it’s one thing to give homeowners an unfettered right to defend themselves in their homes, it’s another to allow it in a business.

Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, said the homeowner right is designed to defend life. This measure is designed to protect property, she said.

“We need to have a much higher threshold for using deadly force against physical property,” Levy said. “Life is one thing, but property? I sure hope that we’re not sanctioning taking another person’s life because they may shoplift. I hope that’s not what Colorado is about.”

Republicans said the measure is intended to help business owners protect themselves not only from intruders, but also from unfair prosecution if they have to shoot someone.

Rep. Mark Barker, R-Colorado Springs, said like homeowners with the existing Make My Day law, businesses owners are going to have to show they personally were threatened before being able to use the defense.

“They don’t get to shoot somebody because they’re stealing a tire off of a car in the parking lot. There has to be some sort of threat to them,” he said. “To say that … the average business person in the state of Colorado is just waiting for this bill to pass so he can just start killing his customers and his neighbors is insane.”

Later in the day, the GOP-controlled House Judiciary Committee approved, on party-line votes, three other Republican gun bills, including one introduced by House Majority Leader Amy Stephens, R-Monument.

Stephens’ measure would bar state and local governments from prohibiting or restricting a person’s right to own or obtain a gun during a declared state of emergency. Stephens said the bill is identical to one being considered in Congress and approved in 30 other states.

The committee also approved bills to allow holders of concealed-weapons permits to carry guns on school or college campuses and to end Colorado Bureau of Investigation background checks on gun purchases.