Colorado Gov. Jared Polis likes to present himself as a rare creature: a libertarian Democrat. And he's done some libertarian things over the years, such as professional license reform.
However, his latest move, signing a gun control bill into law, goes beyond what anyone could reasonably think of as "libertarian."
Granted, one of the hallmarks of being a libertarian is telling everyone else they're not really libertarian because they joke about banning pineapple on pizza--a reasonable position, if I'm being honest--but what Polis signed into law was a lot more than some minor point of disagreement.
It was a drastic infringement of the Second Amendment.
Gov. Jared Polis signed a measure into law on Thursday requiring people seeking to own a semiautomatic firearm with a detachable magazine to obtain a permit first, and also banning the sale or purchase of rapid-fire conversion devices.
The new law will go into effect on Aug. 1, 2026, requiring citizens to have a permit and safety training to purchase semiautomatic firearms that have detachable magazines.
“High-capacity magazines are what put the ‘mass’ into mass shootings, which is why over a decade ago Colorado Democrats passed legislation to prohibit magazines that hold over 15 rounds of ammunition,” said Sen. Tom Sullivan, a primary sponsor of the bill, in a release. “This legislation is another in the list of policies I have worked on to develop evidence-based solutions and reduce gun violence of all types. The people of Colorado have mandated that we do something about the public health crisis that is gun violence, so that’s what we’re going to do.”
He told FOX31’s Alliyah Sims that this is “just the next step” in addressing gun violence in Colorado, noting that it’s been 664 Fridays since his son Alex was murdered in the Aurora Theatre shooting.
“Certainly every little thing we can do is going to help; there is no magic bill or a wand that you can shake to make everything happen or we would have already done that but every little bit helps,” he said.
Polis said the measure would help push Colorado toward its goal of becoming one of the top 10 safest states. He also advocated for the legislators to look at creating scholarship opportunities for the training, which would be run through Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and permits would be maintained by county sheriff’s offices. He said the current goal is to ensure CPW’s firearm training costs are under $200.
Now, if you're going to have a training requirement, a scholarship to fund it for people who can't afford the training is probably a good thing, but a better thing is to recognize that you've crossed a line entirely.
There's no way there's enough scholarship money available to provide training for everyone who lacks the money to pay for it and wants to buy a gun lawfully. Most of them aren't even going to try.
And this may be framed as about so-called high-capacity magazines--which are really just the standard capacity they were designed to work with--and so-called assault weapons, but this will encompass handguns, too.
Semi-automatic handguns are the most popular weapon for self-defense in the nation. They're in holsters and nightstands across this country, and restrictions on those firearms are what eventually led to the decision in DC vs. Heller, where it was firmly established that one cannot ban firearms in common use and that the Second Amendment was, in fact, an individual right.
This measure will directly and negatively impact an untold number of law-abiding Coloradans in the coming years, while doing absolutely nothing to actually curb violent crime or mass murders.
And Polis, a self-described libertarian, actually signed this.
Now, this was a step down from what they wanted, which was an actual and total ban on these firearms. They knew that was too far for Polis, but this isn't much better. It's like saying cancer is better to have than Ebola. I mean, yeah, but that ain't saying much.
There's nothing libertarian about this bill. If Polis is what he claims to be, he should have vetoed it.
Granted, with some of Polis's other positions over the years, the "libertarian" label felt more than a little hollow already.
Now, it's shattered.
What matters now will be the court challenges, because this will be challenged, and if this isn't overturned, there's not much hope for anyone in any anti-gun state anywhere in the country going forward.
