People convicted of first-degree car theft in Colorado will be unable to have a firearm under a new law signed by Gov. Jared Polis on Monday.
House Bill 25-1171 adds the offense to the list of crimes covered by the Possession of Weapon by Previous Offender statute in the state. POWPO makes it illegal to own a firearm for people with one or more of the listed convictions on their record.
“From now on anyone convicted of first degree motor vehicle theft (is) ineligible to possess a firearm, keeping guns out of the wrong hands and protecting our communities,” Polis said in a statement. “I am proud of our work to improve public safety in Colorado, and with this bill signed into law, I look forward to continuing our bold progress to protect Coloradans and our communities.”
A person can be convicted of first-degree vehicle theft only after two other vehicle theft convictions.
The bill was sponsored by Reps. Shannon Bird of Westminster and Andrew Boesenecker of Fort Collins and Sens. Nick Hinrichsen of Pueblo and Dafna Michaelson Jenet of Commerce City, all Democrats. It passed the Legislature with bipartisan support.
A 2021 law narrowed the scope of the POWPO application in Colorado, and while a 2022 law then added more felonies back to the list, it left car theft out.
“What we heard in committee from law enforcement is a plea. They are begging us, in these situations where you have someone who has been convicted three times of auto theft, they are asking us to please take the firearm out of the equation,” Boesenecker said on the House floor during bill debate.
As the bill made its way through the Legislature, Hinrichsen said that car theft is distinct from other property crimes and nonviolent offenses left out of POWPO.
“When we look at punishments relative to crime, either in terms of sentences or in terms of restrictions, what we should be looking at is the severity of the action and the risk and harm done to the victim and community more broadly. When you’re dealing with the theft of a vehicle, you’re disrupting the entire life of an individual,” he said during the bill’s first Senate committee hearing.
The bill was amended in the House, under a change brought by Republican representatives, to allow a person to petition a court to restore their firearm possession rights after 10 years.
“This is the crucially important piece – for someone who has turned their life around, they can petition to get this removed,” Rep. Ryan Armagost, a Berthoud Republican who helped negotiate the amendment, said on the House floor.
But that amendment ended up being a sticking point. Other crimes on the POWPO list do not have that restoration pathway for adults, creating equal protection concerns. Sponsors said, however, that the attorney general’s office said the bill with the amendment is defensible if a legal challenge emerges.
But the Senate stripped the amendment from the bill and passed a version without the restoration piece. The House then refused to accept the change and forced the Senate to decide, in the last hours of the session on May 7, to either pass the House version of the bill or allow the legislation to die. The Senate passed the bill.
“I appreciate the hard work of the House sponsors to work on deals that bring parties into agreement, that brought representatives to be able to get behind this policy that I believe will save lives in Colorado,” Hinrichsen said.
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