Colorado gun bills signed into law by Gov. John Hickenlooper

DENVER, Colo. (KMGH) - Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed three gun control measures into law on Wednesday.

Hickenlooper signed the bills restricting the size of gun magazines, expanding background checks for firearms buyers and adding a fee for background checks for gun transfers. The bills become effective July 1.

"What we have signed today are several bills that materially make our state safer in the long run and allow us to begin to address some of these issues head on," said Hickenlooper.

Hickenlooper admitted that the most contentious bill was the proposal dealing with high capacity magazines.

"These high capacity magazines have the potential to turn killers into killing machines," Hickenlooper said. "Even if they are slowed for just a number of seconds, that allows others to escape."

"This bill does not confiscate any firearms," the governor explained. "It does ban the future sale of firearms and magazines that can be readily convertible to accept more than 15 handgun bullets or 28 inches of shotgun shells.

Hickenlooper said high capacity magazines are used in roughly 30 to 40 percent of the police officers killed in the line of duty and in half of the mass killings over the last 130 years.

The governor believes background checks also have great benefit.

"People say to me, criminals aren't stupid they're not going to sign up for background check," Hickenlooper said. "No one told the criminals that."

Hickenlooper said 5,000 gun sales were stopped by background checks last year. Of those, 2,000 people with a violent history were stopped from buying a weapon.

"236 individuals, when they showed up to pick up their newly purchased gun, we arrested them, because there were outstanding arrest warrants for them," said Hickenlooper.

"Today is a great day as we sign important measures to improve the public safety of Colorado," said one of the bill's sponsor Rhonda Fields. "There was a need to do something."

Fields son, Javad Marshall-Fields, and his fiance, Vivian Wolfe, both 22, died in a hail of gunfire as they drove through an Aurora intersection on June 20, 2005.

"While we can not prevent every act of violence, we must do what we can to reduce the frequency and the impact of these horrible events," Fields said.

Tony Fabian, president of the Colorado State Shooting Association, which is the local chapter of the National Rifle Association, said House Bill 1224, which limits magazines to a maximum 15 rounds, will cost Colorado jobs and tourist money.

“Hunters will avoid coming here,” Fabian said. “Weapons accessories manufacturers have already threatened to leave.”