DENVER — Walk into any gun dealer and you will not find a section labeled “assault weapons.”
The term is defined in the 18-page bill that would ban the sale of assault weapons in Colorado. That bill passed the Colorado State House earlier this month and is set to be heard by a state Senate committee either next week or the week after.
Assault weapons likely conjure up images of AR-style rifles.
Yet, the way Democrats in the state legislature want to define assault weapons, it would also ban several handguns from being sold.
“In an industry like ours, we tend to be more technical and use technical or military-type terms to describe the firearms,” Bryan Clark, co-owner of Bristlecone Shooting, Training and Retail Center, said.
Clark helped show examples of guns that would be banned based on the words printed in the definitions part of the bill banning the sale of assault weapons.
“The definitions, in the way they're stated, bring in an entire family of firearms that most people would not consider to be an ‘assault weapon,’” Clark said.
The bill, in its simplest form, would ban guns with detachable magazines and one accessory among the following:
- Pistol grip or thumbhole stock
- Grip that can be held by non-trigger hand
- Foldable or adjustable stock
- Muzzle break
- Shroud
- Threaded barrel
So, what is all that?
A pistol grip on a rifle is the same type of grip that you would see on a handgun or pistol.
A foldable or adjustable stock is on the back end of the weapon that could reduce the length of the gun.
A muzzle break is one of the accessories that would make certain handguns illegal.
“A muzzle break is typically a device that's put on the end of the barrel to help dissipate the gases that come out of the barrel when the firearm is fired. It does help with recoil control. It'll keep the barrel more steady, allowing the shooter to make follow up shots more accurate,” Clark said.
Clark said handguns with compensators would be illegal because of the ‘muzzle break’ language.
“It functions very much the same way as the muzzle brake in dissipating those gases, helping with recoil control and target reacquisition, so that your time between shots is reduced,” Clark said. “It's not helping the firearm fire quicker. It's just helping the user to reacquire its target quicker. And again, if you're being attacked, if you're trying to protect your family, something of that nature, in an incident that's a feature that you want.”
A shroud is on the end of a rifle, encircling the barrel. It keeps the shooter from burning their non-shooting hand.
A threaded barrel can be on the end of a pistol or rifle.
“On the end of the barrel there are threads, just like a bolt that you would see in a hardware store or whatever. And that allows you to take a suppressor and literally direct thread it onto the barrel,” Clark said.
A suppressor might colloquially be called a “silencer.”
“The threaded barrel is simply a way to connect or to attach a suppressor to this firearm. It doesn't have anything to do with the rate of fire. It doesn't control recoil,” Clark said.
In 1994, the federal assault weapons ban prohibited the manufacture, transfer or possession of assault weapons, as defined by U.S. Congress.
That definition banned guns that had detachable magazines and two accessories as defined by that law.
Colorado’s version would ban the sale of guns with detachable magazines and one accessory,
“A lot of the features that have been called out, or accessories or parts, that go into a handgun like this that qualify them now as an assault weapon, are the same types of features and things that people are looking for, to improve their own personal safety, and to allow them to better defend themselves,” Clark said. “Obviously doesn't take into effect all of the firearms that are out there, but it does curtail a good bit of them.”
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