[BoulderCouncilHotline] Assault weapon regulation feedback

[Weaver, Sam]

Fellow Council Members and HOTLINE followers,

As we approach our second reading of the assault weapon regulations, I  wanted to put out some thoughts so that staff can prepare responses in advance of our meeting Tuesday.  I want to compliment Tom Carr and other City staff who have compiled a very clear set of options for us to consider.  Here are some of my thoughts:


  1.  PDF page 329, recitation B: I  suggest replacing 'at schools' with 'in public spaces and at schools'
  2.  I support adding all of the recitations in Attachment B
  3.  PDF page 330, 5-8-2 (a) add 'center-fire' before 'rifles'   This, in my opinion, removes the need for the exemption on PDF page 331 regarding .22 caliber rifle magazines.  Many .22 target shooting, plinking, and small-game rifles and pistols are rim-fire.
  4.  PDF page 330, 5-8-2 (a) here or elsewhere define 'pistol grip' rigorously.  I support the definition in  Attachment C, and remind Council of the document from the California Office of the Attorney General (attached to this email) for further administrative clarification.
  5.  I am NOT in support of 5-8-25 (a) 4 in Attachment D for the exemption of CCW permit holders from this regulation.
  6.  Regarding #5 above, I would like either City staff or a member of the public to brief Council on the state of CCW permitting and the maintenance, validation, and revocation practices regarding those permits under current state law.
  7.  I support limiting magazine capacity for center-fire semi-automatic rifles to 10 rounds of ammunition capacity.
  8.  I support explicitly limiting pistol magazines to 15 rounds of ammunition capacity if the magazine in question is received in the pistol handgrip.  This comports with the state-level restrictions, and with common handgun manufacturing practice.  For pistol-style assault weapons in which the magazine attaches outside of the pistol grip, I would keep the limit at 10 rounds.
  9.  I would also like to have 5-8-21. - Open Carriage of Firearms in Carrying Cases Required modified as part of this package of reforms.  This is the law that was flagrantly broken during the April gun rights protest: 'Any person carrying a firearm off of the person's property or outside of the person's business or vehicle shall carry the firearm in a carrying case. The carrying case must be recognizable as a gun carrying case by a reasonable person. A plain-shaped case must be clearly marked to be deemed recognizable under this standard. The carrying case must be openly carried and must not be concealed on or about the person. This section shall not apply to individuals who have a permit to carry a concealed weapon issued pursuant to state law.'  I would like the final sentence of the prior passage to explicitly allow only pistols (and not assault weapons or rifles) to be exempted from the carrying case requirement.
  10. I would finally like to remind all of us of the following Boulder ordinance: 5-8-15. - Deadly Weapons in City Buildings Prohibited.  (a)No person, other than a peace officer, shall carry, bring or possess a deadly weapon in the city council chambers while the council is in session.  (b)No person, other than a peace officer, shall carry, bring or possess a deadly weapon in any public building owned by the city and open to the public if the city manager has posted a sign to that effect at every public entrance to the building. Ordinance No. 7299 (2003)

For our Tuesday meeting, I would suggest that posting signs per the requirements of 5-8-15 (b) would be quite prudent to protect the safety of meeting attendees.  This is redundant to the requirements of 5-8-15 (a), but would provide additional clarity of the applicable laws.  I would suggest that we explicitly ban all firearms from Council chambers for public safety purposes, as well as having our broader public not fear intimidation via firearms. We try and limit silencing of our residents by rules that do not allow clapping or verbal outbursts, and should do the same regarding physical threats.

All the best,

Sam Weaver
Member of Boulder City Council
weavers at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:weavers at bouldercolorado.gov>
Phone: 303-416-6130

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