DENVER – In January, the Denver City Council approved a measure effectively banning bump stocks in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting. On Friday, the Denver Police Department announced they’re taking them back from citizens who still own them, lest they get a hefty fine or potential prison time.
“With the recent change to the Denver Revised Municipal Code (D.R.M.C.) 38-130, bump stocks are now illegal to sell, carry, store, or otherwise possess in Denver,” reads a press release from the Denver Police Department.
The department asks that if you own one, that you turn them in to any Denver Police Station. Not doing so could incur a fine between $100 and $999 or be subjected to spend between 10 to 180 days in jail.
The department defines bump stocks as “any device for a pistol, rifle, or shotgun that increases the rate of fire achievable with such weapon by using energy from the recoil of the weapon to generate a reciprocating action that facilitates repeated activation of the trigger.”
The city approved the city- and county-wide ban back on Jan. 22, after a public comment period in which eight people spoke in favor of the measure, and one spoke against it, calling for even stronger rules.
The 11-1 vote in favor of the ban is mostly symbolic.
Denver already has an existing ban on so-called assault weapons, which include semi-automatic rifles with magazine capacities of 21+ rounds and semi-auto shotguns with either a folding stock or six-round magazine capacity.
The new language changes the magazine capacity to 15 rounds instead of 21+, putting city law in line with state law, and would also add language defining what a bump stock is, and banning such devices.