Gun advocates file federal lawsuit against Gov. Polis for ‘ghost gun’ ban effective Monday
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Among the new state laws that began Monday is Senate Bill 23-279, legislation signed by Gov. Jared Polis that would prohibit possession, sales and distribution of homemade guns that don't have serial numbers, called "ghost guns" by opponents.
Some of those opponents have filed a federal lawsuit against Polis, claiming that the ban violates the right given by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the to keep and bear arms.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Denver, names five plaintiffs including the Loveland, Colo. -based National Association for Gun Rights and Rocky Mountain Gun Owners.
According to the lawsuit, the "ghost gun" ban is unconstitutional because it prohibits gunsmithing, and the personal manufacturing of guns is among the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment.
The lawsuit goes on to say that "ghost guns" are made with 3-D printers and easily-available firearms kits, stand-alone frames, and receiver parts that have never been considered firearms by the federal government or been required to have serial numbers.
"I'm also looking at Article 13 of the Colorado Constitution," said Ian Escalante, a plaintiff with Rocky Mountain Gun owners. "It says that the right to keep and bear arms shall not only be not infringed (upon), but shall not be called into question. That's even stronger language than in the U.S. Constitution. These anti-gun laws disproportionately affect peaceful Coloradans -- people who just want to be able to manufacture a gun in their own home, that they can take elk hunting and things like that.”
The new law required that "ghost guns" or homemade firearms were to have registered serial numbers by Jan. 1.
Opponents say that such firearms can be easily acquired by criminals to commit crimes, and are virtually untraceable.
“If you want to make a gun and you don’t want anyone to know you have it, and you want to get it without a background check, these are the guns for you," said Mark Collins, federal policy director for Brady, a national gun violence advocate. "A little bit of time in your garage and you have a fully-functional firearm — even if you’re prohibited with a felony or you're a fugitive from justice. Anyone can get their hands on them.”
Gov. Polis' office declined to comment Tuesday, citing the pending lawsuit.
Paul Paradis has owned and operated Paradise Sales on West Colorado Avenue in Colorado Springs for 40 years, and said that he gets an illegal ghost gun from customers one or twice a month.
“What I’ve done is cut them up the way the (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) recommends, and then I trash one part of it so that there’s no way to put it back together," he explained "I had four cut-up ghost guns that I did for somebody. They couldn’t get them serialized, they didn’t want to pay the fee. And it’s like, they didn’t work very well, by the way. So, I bought them for parts and chopped up the frames.”
It's unknown how many owners of illegal ghost guns are stuck with those firearms because they don't know what to do with them.
"And I'm not 21 yet," a Paradise Sales customer said. "That means I can't bring my gun in to get a serial number. I don't know what I'm going to do because a lot of gun stores won't take ghost guns at all."
This is a developing story.
