Half-cocked: Car crash triggers gun confiscation
Law-abiding citizen battles police for return of weapon
The radical Colorado gun restrictions that were put
into place a year ago – following lobbying from the White House – remain
under challenge in court.
For example, a legal
handgun belonging to a woman who was in a car crash was taken into custody by
police as she was taken to the hospital.
Officers now say there’s
no legal way for them to return it to her, even though she’s permitted to carry
it. Even though it belongs to her. Even though police don’t really even want
it.
The stunning
development was reported by the Loveland Reporter-Herald, which noted that
Jim Szakmeister, a deputy police chief in Fort Collins, said the city and
district attorneys advised the gun could not be transferred back to the owner
without a Federal Firearms License check. No one is qualified to do that from
the police agency, the paper said.
It was during the 2013
legislative session in Colorado that majority
Democrats adopted a long list of gun rules, restrictions and regulations.
Sheriffs around the state
almost immediately sued, saying the laws were unenforceable. They argued the
limits on transferring weapons would make it illegal for someone at a shooting
range to hand a gun to an instructor to check and make it illegal for a shooter
to take a gun component from another person for repair.
Colorado officials
admitted they were doing the bidding of the White House. In February, Vice
President Joe Biden flew to the state to strong-arm Democratic lawmakers who were
feeling pressure from their constituents to vote against the bills.
“He (Biden) said it would
send a strong message to the rest of the country that a Western state had
passed gun-control bills,” Tony Exhum, a Democratic lawmaker from Colorado
Springs, told the Denver Post.
House Majority Leader
Mark Ferrandino, an open homosexual who also pursued a “civil unions” agenda
even though the state Constitution forbids same-sex marriage, admitted the
gun-control bills introduced by fellow Democrats had national implications.
“I was shocked that he
called. He said he thought the bills could help them on a national level,”
Ferrandino said.
As WND previously reported, the case
against the state over its gun rules listed 54 of the state’s 64 sheriffs as
plaintiffs.
Weld County Sheriff John
Cooke had said: “Some in the media … asked me if I think it’s a good idea or if
it’s appropriate for [a] government official to sue another government
official. My response is unequivocally yes. It is our duty and responsibility
as sheriffs to protect the people who elected us and whom we serve.”
The legal wording that
grandfathers existing magazines holding more than 15 rounds apparently applies
only as long as the holder “maintains continuous possession” of it. Cooke and
other sheriffs have pointed out that based on the wording of the law, anyone
who gives his magazine to a gunsmith for repair or asks for help on a shooting
range with a jammed magazine is now violating the law.
That’s the crux of the
issue in the Fort Collins dispute.
The Herald reported Sara
Warren, who works as a maid and carries a Ruger compact SR9 handgun for
protection as she enters the homes of strangers, was in an auto accident March
28.
She went to the hospital.
Her weapon was turned over to Fort Collins Police Services, where it stays.
Authorities say the law
requires a background check on her before it can be returned, and there’s no
procedure.
“I’m told there are other
people in this situation,” Sheriff Justin Smith said. “It’s terrible when a
law-abiding citizen gets caught up in something like this and it causes them to
lose faith in their government.”
Szakmeister said opinions
from the city attorney and district attorney agreed – the firearm could not be
“transferred” without an FFL check.
“I’m a lawful citizen. I
use my gun legally. I need my gun … this is ridiculous,” Warren told the
newspaper.
“There are people out
there who can’t get their guns back. They haven’t done anything wrong.”
Authorities said they
were trying to set up a meeting time with an FFL so that the necessary
background checks could be done to return guns to owners who already had been
cleared.
Smith told the newspaper
the law technically states that if a gun is seized by an officer as evidence,
an FFL background check is required on the officer, who would take “transfer”
of the gun, as well as the evidence custodian, to whom the weapon also would be
“transferred.”
“As written, it is simply
not workable,” Smith said.
A recent poll showed public support for the
Democrat agenda plunging, with 56 percent opposing and only 39 percent
supporting the gun laws.
Listen to the
WND/Radio America interview with Weld County Sheriff John Cooke below:
The issue also prompted the voter recall of
two Democrats who supported the gun laws. They were replaced by Republicans.
And a third Democrat legislator, state Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Westminster,
hurriedly resigned as she was facing a recall because that allowed the Democrat
Party to name her replacement, and maintained an 18-17 advantage in the
chamber. A successful recall against Hudak would have shifted the majority to
the Republican Party.
Senate President John
Morse and Sen. Angela Giron earlier were thrown out of office over their
support for the gun laws.
WND also reported when Hudak was following
the White House line on gun control and sparked controversy with her comments.
In a legislative hearing,
she scolded a witness opposing a gun restriction.
Amanda Collins, 27, of
Reno, Nev., told her story of being assaulted and explained that had she been
carrying a concealed weapon, the incident might have ended differently.
Hudak told Collins: “I
just want to say that, actually statistics are not on your side even if you had
a gun. And, chances are that if you would have had a gun, then he would have
been able to get that from you and possibly use it against you.”
Hudak continued, speaking
over the committee witness, and said woman often are killed when they use a
weapon in self-defense.
Finally able to resume
her testimony, Collins said: “Senator, you weren’t there. I know without a
doubt [the outcome would have been different with a gun].
“He already had a
weapon,” she told the meeting of the Senate State, Veterans and Military
Affairs Committee. “He didn’t need mine.”
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