Colorado Congressman Ed Perlmutter Wants Tighter Regulations On Firearm Used In Boulder Grocery Store Shooting

(CBS4) - Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a Democrat who represents Colorado's 7th Congressional District, is pushing to regulate the type of weapon police say was used in the Boulder grocery store shooting.

Perlmutter, who is Vice Chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, helped draft a letter to President Joe Biden. The letter was signed by 101 members of the U.S. House, including Colorado Reps. Joe Neguse and Jason Crow, who also serve as Vice Chairs on the task force.

The letter asks Biden to take executive action to put concealable assault-style firearms on the national firearm registry. The registry regulates firearms often used in crimes by requiring those who own the weapons undergo a background check, submit photo identification and fingerprints, and register the firearm with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Perlmutter says gun manufacturers have designed and marketed concealable AR-15 style firearms, which fire rifle rounds, to avoid the registry.

"If it is added to the registry, it requires much more in terms of identification, much more in terms of registration and regulation," said Perlmutter. "We know so many of these weapons were placed on the registry way back, decades ago, and rarely do we find them used in a crime, especially a murder."

He says putting the type of gun used in the grocery store murders on the registry would allow law-abiding citizens to own it and not killers.