The “assault weapons” ban being pushed by Colorado House Democrats would prohibit the sale of 9mm pistols with threaded barrels.
In fact, the language of the bill, HB24-1292, makes clear a semiautomatic handgun of any caliber would be banned if takes a detachable magazine and has a threaded barrel.
Moreover, the Democrats’ “assault weapons” ban also targets semiautomatic handguns that do not take a detachable magazine by making clear that any such handgun that “may be readily modified to accept a detachable magazine” is banned as well.
Ironically, threaded barrels do not make bullets fly faster nor do they speed up the rate of fire. Rather, they serve to allow suppressors to be used to protect hearing and the environment, and Colorado is one of 42 states in which suppressors are legal.
Suppressors are so beneficial to the environment that they are even legal to use while hunting in Colorado.
The American Suppressor Association lists Colorado as one of 41 states in which hunting with suppressors is legal, but Democrats want to ban semiautomatic handguns with threaded barrels.
It should be noted that every major handgun semiautomatic handgun manufacturer in the 21st century produces pistol models with detachable magazines and threaded barrels, and such models are often the companies top tier handgun offering. Colorado House Democrats want to ban these handguns with a bill ubiquitously aimed at banning AR and AK-style rifles.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a pro-staffer for Pulsar Night Vision. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.