March 09, 2015 12:16 PM UTC

"Gunmageddon's" Last Gasp Moves Today

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• by: Colorado Pols

9NEWS’ Brandon Rittiman:

On Monday, new GOP Senate President Bill Cadman makes good on his promise to give Democrats a chance to “correct their mistakes” on gun policy.

A Republican bill to repeal the 15-round limit on ammunition magazines gets its first hearing Monday afternoon in the senate judiciary committee.

SB 175 is likely to pass through the senate under GOP control, but it’s likely to die a quick death in the Democratically-controlled house.

The equivalent legislation on the House side has already died, in a hearing that drew surprisingly little interest from gun owners–continuing a pattern we’ve seen of the gun lobby being consistently unable to match the level of opposition to gun safety legislation seen in 2013 when they were originally passed by the General Assembly.

Rocky Mountain Gun Owners tried to rally their members to the Capitol for this legislation two weeks ago, but were thwarted by heavy snow. It’s unknown how many of their supporters were able to get time off again to testify today, but most expect the debate over Senate Bill 175 to be the acid test of the gun lobby’s drawing–and staying–power.

Right before it dies in the Democratic House of course, an inevitable fact that will probably not be great for turnout–that, and the fact that fevered predictions the magazine limit would “ban gun ownership” or “ban all magazines” never came true. Reality-based debates over this law aren’t nearly as emotional, so most of the testimony today probably won’t be.

We’ll update with coverage as it comes in.