A statement from Sheriff Todd Rowell regarding Colorado Senate Bill 25-003, Semiautomatic Firearms & Rapid-Fire Devices:

"Senate Bill 3 was introduced earlier this year and is similar to bills that have been introduced into the Colorado legislature in the previous three years. Colorado Senate Bill 25-003 was created to outlaw specified semi-automatic firearms, meaning rifles with detachable magazines that are semi-automatic, and pistols that are air-operated that are semi-automatic. 

I've testified in both the House Committee as well as the Senate Committee, carrying the voice of the County Sheriffs of Colorado against this bill. We are opposed to it. We were not involved in stakeholding from the beginning of it. I don't believe that this bill will reduce crime and violence in our community. 
In Mesa County over the last six years, we have had 22 homicides. We have also had six mass shootings over the last quarter of a century. Not a single firearm on the list that they're trying to outlaw via CO SB 25-003 were used during the commission of these crimes. So, it will change nothing in our community.

I don't want the community to misunderstand me. I detest gun violence. Illegal gun violence is terrible. I have an immense amount of compassion for victims and families that are victims of mass shootings. However, this bill will not impact current gun violence in our community.

Criminals don't obey the laws. First degree homicide is already a crime in the state of Colorado. It carries a minimum sentence of life in prison. Colorado Senate Bill 25-003 carries with it a charge of a Class 2 Misdemeanor, which equates to a maximum sentence of 120 days in jail.

If someone is willing to commit a heinous crime, they're not going to avoid doing so because there is a Class 2 Misdemeanor attached to the crime. Criminals break the law.

Senate Bill 3 has a heavy impact on our law abiding citizens. If you have gone through a hunter safety course, you have to take a four hour course to now possess one of the firearms listed in CO SB 25-003. If you have not, you have to take a 12 hour course over two days. You have to pass the course with a 90% or above, which is an "A" in most educational standards. In other words, you have to be an "A" student if you would like to exercise your Second Amendment Right. 

You have to be able to afford to pay for a background check through your local Sheriff's Office and afford the instructor led courses, on top of the increased taxes on firearms implemented by the State of Colorado. 

We're a county of over 3,300 square miles. Law enforcement response can take up to an hour in some locations. I don't expect my community members to wait for law enforcement to arrive should they need to protect themselves. This bill, along with other legislation passed over the past couple of years, makes it very difficult for law-abiding citizens to go out and purchase a firearm. 

There is also an unfunded mandate with CO SB 25-003. Sheriff Offices have to conduct background checks on individuals and we have to verify every instructor in our community. It is estimated to cost each Sheriff's Office over $350,000 the first year to implement these mandates. Each year after, it will cost each Sheriff's Office over $300,000 to maintain. The agencies do have the option to pass the cost on to the communities they serve, however, I do not want to do that as the Sheriff of Mesa County. 

I believe purchasing a firearm in Colorado is difficult as it is in Colorado right now and I don't want citizens to have to pay to exercise their Second Amendment right. It's not an Amendment that was written just for the upper class who can afford it and can take the days off. CO SB 25-003 impacts people that can't take two days off of work to attend a training class and cannot afford to pay for the training classes and background check all to exercise a right that was afforded by the Constitution of the United States.

We do not have people sitting around at our office available to take on the task of processing excess background checks and instructor verifications. We're a very busy office, so to comply with these new mandates, most likely, Deputies will have to be taken off of our streets to handle these new tasks. This means Deputies will be sitting at a desk instead of in our communities responding quickly to calls to find solutions to public safety concerns. I hate that. However, with an unfunded mandate such as CO SB 25-003, there's not money in the General Fund, there's not money in the Public Safety Tax set aside for this, and the state is not going to give each Sheriff's Office money to implement the mandate. The State is expecting us to pass the cost onto the individuals in our community and I believe that is unfair.

My message to Governor Polis is this: Governor Polis, this bill has completely changed since it was introduced. It's gone from a ban on specified weapons, to no a permit process - an egregious permit process. I'm asking you to veto this bill, sent it back to Congress, have them redraft it with input from stakeholders that are on the frontline of crime and violence in our communities, and have them bring it back next year."