Four Gun Laws Unofficially Passed by Colorado House

“INDEPENDENT” NEWS MEDIA?

by Sharon Rondeau

(Feb. 15, 2013) — A headline at Newsmax states, “Biden-Backed Gun Laws Passed in Colorado.”  The article was actually written by the Associated Press.

However, near the bottom of the article, it is stated:

All of the proposals still need to be considered by Democrat-controlled Senate.

The same article was published under the CBS News banner under the title “Biden Lobbies as Colorado Approves Gun-Control Measures.

Under its masthead, Newsmax claims to be “independent.”

In order for a bill to “pass” in a state, it must receive a majority of votes by members of both the House of Representatives and Senate, just as in the U.S. Congress.

Therefore, the Associated Press is not telling the truth, and neither is any outlet which reproduces the story with a misleading headline.

The New York Times more accurately portrayed the bills passing the Colorado House of Representatives by reporting, “Stronger Gun-Control Measures Clear First Votes in the Colorado House.”

Last June, a man opened fire in an Aurora, CO movie theater, killing 12 and injuring 59.  Obama visited the community two days later.

Democrats have the majority in both the Colorado House and Senate.  The bills which passed the House would limit magazine capacities and require background checks on purchasers of firearms at gun shows.  Also passed were measures which would make it illegal to carry a concealed weapon on a college campus, as is the case in the state of Connecticut.  In 2009, several students at two Connecticut universities protested the conceal-carry ban on campus, citing security concerns.  WTNH reported that the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999 was “fresh in everyone’s minds” even though it had been ten years since it occurred.

Connecticut is considering bills which would limit high-capacity magazines and mandate “safe storage” of firearms in the wake of the shooting deaths of 27 people on December 14, 2012, with 26 having been murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.  Emotion and “public pressure” are cited as reasons to pass further restrictions on firearms in a state which has some of the strictest laws of the 50 states and which has two cities, Hartford and New Haven, in the top ten most dangerous cities in the country.

The shooter at Sandy Hook did not obtain the weapons legally, but rather, took them from his mother’s legally-purchased cache, killing her before proceeding to the school, according to various news reports.  Obama visited the community two days later.

Magpun Industries, a Colorado magazine manufacturer, has threatened to leave the state if the restriction on higher-capacity magazines clears both chambers of the legislature, which could result in the loss of 600 jobs.

As of late Friday, the votes in the Colorado House were “unrecorded” and will be taken officially and recorded on Monday.

Much of the wording in the Fox News report referring to Magpun came from the same Associated Press story utilized by Newsmax and CBS News.