Traveling to Colorado with rifle and magazines?

[Carolinalogcrafter]

I am going to be visiting Colorado and bringing an AR and magazines. The mags are Standard capacity (30) rounds. What are the laws regarding this? Will I get arrested with them? It is really hard to find the laws concerning this.Thanks for any help.

[Skully]

I am going to be visiting Colorado and bringing an AR and magazines. The mags are Standard capacity (30) rounds. What are the laws regarding this? Will I get arrested with them? It is really hard to find the laws concerning this.Thanks for any help.

Someone can correct me if I am wrong. The law applies to those who are residence of Colorado. If you are just visiting you are fine.

[J]

WRONG. It provides no safe passage clause, and does not specify "residents" in the bill. It does allow you to have them if you had possession of the magazines before July 1 2013 AND maintained continuous possession since then (e.g. didn't loan them to someone). It has no text that requires you to have possession of them in Colorado prior to that date, just simply possession. That said, HB13-1224 is one of the worst written pieces of legislature in the land. It is overly broad, and rushed to say the least. So, standard disclaimer applies, I am not a Lawyer, and you should research yourself or seek legal advice.

If you want to read the final law, it is at the link below:

http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2013a/csl.nsf/billcontainers/7E6713B015E62E6F87257B0100813CB5/$FILE/1224_enr.pdf

[spqrzilla]

As J says, there is no exception for non-residents passing through or visiting. You must meet the same requirements as residents.

There is a lot of bad drafting in this bill, and we can't guarantee that our interpretations of the legislation won't be superceded by subsequent litigation or other judicial interpretations. But at present, a non resident runs the same risks that residents do when in possession of magazines in excess of 15 rounds. We can't predict today, only a month and a half since the law became effective, which departments will or won't enforce, and which departments will apply what interpretations.

[Carolinalogcrafter]

Okay, I see what you mean but... I don't have receipts. They are gen2 mags. Kind of scary huh? I don't want to go on vacation and end up on probation.

[Skully]

WRONG. It provides no safe passage clause, and does not specify "residents" in the bill. It does allow you to have them if you had possession of the magazines before July 1 2013 AND maintained continuous possession since then (e.g. didn't loan them to someone). It has no text that requires you to have possession of them in Colorado prior to that date, just simply possession. That said, HB13-1224 is one of the worst written pieces of legislature in the land. It is overly broad, and rushed to say the least. So, standard disclaimer applies, I am not a Lawyer, and you should research yourself or seek legal advice.

If you want to read the final law, it is at the link below:

http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2013a/csl.nsf/billcontainers/7E6713B015E62E6F87257B0100813CB5/$FILE/1224_enr.pdf

My bad, still the odds local boys will stop and see the out of state of ID and not care. I guess it will depend on the person stopped and the person being stopped.

[J]

You do not have an obligation to prove your innocence. Beyond that essentially being an innumerate right, the bill explicitly establishes it. I recommend a reading into your 4th amendment rights. After that, application of your fifth amendment rights. Those are your insurance policies as a citizen.

Standard disclaimer:
I am not an attorney, this is not legal advice.
If you want legal advice, pay an attorney and get reamed.
/end disclaimer

Correct, the burden of proof is on the state to prove you didn't have the mags before July 1... you need not prove you had them prior to the law going into effect. So receipts are not necessary. Of course, that doesn't stop someone from harassing you about it and making your day hell. There haven't been any reported cases of such tactics, yet.

Magpul does date stamp their mags, so make sure you don't bring any brand spankin new ones, bring units that you had prior to July 1 if you decide to do so.

[KAPA]

All questions like this should be posted on Rap Sheet Rhonda's Facebook page.

[stenz]

No one is going to look at your mags. Just bring them and have fun.

[Zundfolge]

No one is going to look at your mags. Just bring them and have fun.

^This

Most law enforcement agencies in the state have flatly stated they won't enforce the law as it's unenforceable and 55 of the state's Sheriffs are suing to overturn them (and there are only like 62-63 Sheriffs in CO).

[Stevensje]

^This

Most law enforcement agencies in the state have flatly stated they won't enforce the law as it's unenforceable and 55 of the state's Sheriffs are suing to overturn them (and there are only like 62-63 Sheriffs in CO).


I would avoid Denver and Aurora.

[Aardvark]

So, is this CO law in conflict with the Firearm Owners' Protection Act (FOPA)? "One of the law's provisions was that persons traveling from one place to another cannot be incarcerated for a firearms offense in a state that has strict gun control laws if the traveler is just passing through (short stops for food and gas), provided that the firearms and ammunition are not immediately accessible, that the firearms are unloaded and, in the case of a vehicle without a compartment separate from the driver’s compartment, the firearms are located in a locked container"

[merl]

FOPA doesn't cover mags, just guns.
However, if you have a couple mags secured along with the gun they go in and are only passing through the state as required I doubt you'd get any trouble in CO. I wouldn't want to test it driving through NY as they don't seem to honor even the firearm portion of that law.