Colorado Sheriff: I Won't Enforce New Gun Laws

He calls them 'knee-jerk reactions ... unenforceable'
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 17, 2013 3:45 PM CDT
Colorado Sheriff: I Won't Enforce New Gun Laws
Weld County Sheriff John Cooke, center, backed by a group of fellow sheriffs, in Denver, Monday March 4, 2013.   (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Colorado lawmakers passed new gun measures this week, but at least two sheriffs are refusing to enforce them. "They’re feel-good, knee-jerk reactions that are unenforceable," said Weld County Sheriff John Cooke after state Democrats pushed through expanded background checks on gun purchases. Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, is expected to sign it into law, Fox News reports.

Cooke's beef: The $10 background checks won't keep crooks from obtaining firearms, he told the Greeley Tribune. Another Colorado sheriff is opposing another new state gun law—to cap ammunition magazines at 15 rounds—saying he won't be able to tell which magazines were sold after the law's July 1 deadline. Colorado is considered an important test case, because it's the first non-East Coast state to limit gun rights after the Dark Knight and Connecticut school shootings. (More gun laws stories.)

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