Meeting on a rare Sunday, Democrats gave final approval to two gun bills following marathon sessions that at times turned acrimonious. 

The majority advanced Senate Bill 170, which seeks to expand the people who can seek a “red flag” petition, and Senate Bill 168, which allows victims of gun violence to sue firearms manufacturers and dealers in civil court. 

Sunday’s session started off with much of the same acrimony that characterized what happened late Saturday – and more or less ended that way.

SB 170 passed on party-line 44-to-19 vote, while SB 168 won, 39-22, with three Democrats – Reps. Megan Lukens of Steamboat Springs, Matthew Martinez of Monte Vista and Barbara McLachlan of Durango – voting “no,” along with Republicans.  

Sunday’s action on SB 168 also included renaming the bill in honor of Jessica Redfield Ghawi Act, who died in the 2012 Aurora Theater shooting. Ghawi’s parents, Lonnie and Sandy Phillips, sued an online firearms dealer in state court for selling ammunition to the shooter but lost, driving the Phillips into bankruptcy when they had to pay more than $200,000 in legal fees.

The Phillips were in the House gallery Sunday for the final vote.

Lawmakers substantially amended a third bill, Senate Bill 169, which raises the age for purchasing firearms from 18 to 21, during Sunday’s session. It won approval on a preliminary voice vote.

On Saturday, House Democrats invoked Rule 14, which limited debate on two gun bills to an hour each and caused howls of outrage from House Republicans and their allies outside the building. 

Republicans knew Democrats were considering the temporary change in rules, which applies only to bills named in the motion – they had stickers made that showed a “14” with a red circle around it and a line through the number.

Despite knowing the possibility existed, Republicans filibustered the two bills for two full days, beginning Friday afternoon and continuing throughout the entire day Saturday.

Sunday began with Republicans chastising the majority for invoking Rule 14.

“All you had to do was sit and listen,” said Rep. Scott Bottoms, R-Colorado Springs.

Rep. Ken DeGraaf, R-Colorado Springs, then read the beginning of the Declaration of Independence.

When Senate Bill 170 – which adds district attorneys, school and college faculty and counselors, as well health care professionals to those who can petition a court to have people’s firearms removed under the premise that they are a danger to themselves or others – came up for its final vote, Bottoms asked that the bill be read at length, which is done by a computer program. 

Amendments added to the bill on Saturday, including those successfully advocated for by Republicans, grew the measure from 36 to 40 pages, and it took the computer program an hour to read the measure.

Democrats, however, decided not to invoke Rule 14 for Sunday’s final vote debates. Every member of the minority party spoke, almost all for the maximum 10 minutes each allowed under the rules. 

Republicans also tried to send SB 168 back to the House for more second reading debate, complaining they had a number of amendments they were not able to introduce because the debate had been limited to an hour.

That motion failed on a party-line vote.

During the debate on Senate Bill 169, which would raise the age for purchasing a firearm from 18 to 21, House Dems began by invoking Rule 14, limiting debate to four hours. The motion, however, wasn’t unanimous among Democrats, as Reps. Bob Marshall of Highlands Ranch, Elisabeth Epps of Denver and Martinez voted against it.

Democrats, including its co-sponsor, House Majority Leader Monica Duran, D-Wheat Ridge, made a series of substantial changes to the bill. Most notably, all of the bill’s language around possession of firearms by those under age 21 was removed. 

The bill, when it was in the Senate, had listed quite a few exemptions in the possession area – those under 21 could possess a firearm if they are in law enforcement, active duty military, enrolled in state hunting programs, held a hunting license, participated in shooting sports or needed a firearm for defense of livestock.

Even the bill’s title got changed, removing its reference to possession of a firearm by someone under 21.

The penalty for purchasing a firearm also changed from a class 1 misdemeanor to a class 2, reducing the penalty from 364 days in jail to 120 days and from a fine of $1,000 to a fine of $750.

While Democrats allowed for a four-hour debate under Rule 14, the discussion lasted just over an hour. The bill won a preliminary voice vote and will be up for a final vote on Monday.

Both bills that won final votes on Sunday will now head back to the Senate for a review of amendments, the same fate that will await SB 169 once it wins expected approval Monday.