Buying a gun? Colo Senate agrees to waive some background checks
A bill that would allow some gun owners to bypass additional background checks is headed back to the House.
The Senate voted 22-13 to pass the measure (House Bill 1180) on Friday. It would exempt people with concealed weapons permits from new background checks each time they buy a weapon. Those permit holders undergo background checks when they apply for a permit.
Senators agreed to change the bill to require the Colorado Bureau of Investigations to come up with one tamperproof permit card to be used across Colorado. County sheriffs are in charge of issuing permits, and each county has its own style of permit card.
Permit holders would have to show another form of identification when buying a gun.
The House will decide whether to go along with those changes.
Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, wanted sheriffs to be in charge of coming up with the permit card. He fears asking the CBI to do it could be used to try to kill the bill because lawmakers may not want to spend any money on the program.
The group representing Colorado sheriffs opposes the bill because there is no statewide database to keep track of whether a permit has been suspended because a gun owner has had a run-in with the law.
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