COLORADO SPRINGS — A new Colorado law increases the penalty for gun theft to a felony, no matter the price of the stolen gun.
Governor Jared Polis signed HB25-1062 into law on Monday. The legislation makes all firearm theft a Class 6 felony, which carries a 12-18 month prison sentence, a mandatory one-year parole period, and fines ranging from $1,000 to $100,000.
Under the previous law, the penalty for stealing a firearm that cost less than $2,000 was considered a misdemeanor or a petty offense.
Jeremy Manson, manager of Spartan Defense gun store in Colorado Springs, said the new law is a step in the right direction to crack down on gun theft.
"The penalty being based on the dollar amount of a gun is one of those things that doesn't make a lot of sense. A $200 gun can do just as much damage as a $7,000 gun," he said.
His shop was targeted in a smash-and-grab burglary in Aug. 2024, where a group of people smashed a stolen car into the storefront and stole around 15 guns.
"I don't know that laws are going to fix it, like stealing a gun is illegal one way or the other... but it is one of those things that I think will make criminals think twice," said Manson.
State Senator Nick Hinrichsen, a Democrat representing Pueblo, was one of the prime sponsors of the bill. He released the following statement about the new law in a news release on Monday:
"Firearm theft of any kind increases the risk of violent crime for everyone, and we must do more to prevent such crimes before they occur. This bipartisan policy has been a multi-year effort, and I’m proud that this year we were able to get it across the finish line and see HB1062 signed into law."
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said from 2019 to 2023, an average of 3,512 firearms were stolen from private citizens each year in Colorado.
A spokesperson for the Colorado Springs Police Department said the new gun theft penalties "reflect an understanding of the serious threat our community faces when firearms get in the wrong hands."
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