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New Law Would Help Ensure Domestic Violence Offenders Turn Over Their Guns

(CBS4) -- Colorado lawmakers are considering a bill to help protect domestic violence survivors by keeping firearms out of the hands of their abuser. House Bill 21-1255 passed its second hearing on Wednesday.

It's sponsored by Representatives Monica Duran and Matt Gray.

The bill strengthens and streamlines procedures for the relinquishing of firearms by someone who has a domestic-violence protection order issued against them. Current law already requires domestic violence offenders to forfeit their firearms -- and refrain from possessing or purchasing any for the duration of the order. The new bill clarifies the way in which defendants must comply with this requirement.

Investigators say the mass shooting at a birthday party in Colorado Springs on May 9 was a domestic violence-related event. The suspected gunman, Teodoro Macias, 28, killed six people with a semi-automatic handgun before taking his own life.

Colorado Springs mass shooting
The scene of an overnight shooting in the Canterbury Mobile Home Park on May 9, 2021 in Colorado Springs. (credit: Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

A recent analysis of mass shootings found that over the past six years, about 60% were either domestic violence attacks or committed by men with histories of domestic violence.

In Colorado, 60 incidents of domestic violence led to 70 deaths in 2019 -- that's a 62% increase from the previous year.

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