A Colorado bill introduced in February would require gun owners to purchase firearm liability insurance, which could result in fines if owners don't comply with the policy. (Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty)
One of the bill's sponsors, Rep. Steven Woodrow, said the bill would encourage responsible firearm ownership amid escalating gun violence. He pointed to a study that found deaths and injuries from firearms cost Colorado nearly $12 billion each year.
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But the Gazette editorial board said the bill was simply a guise to limit legal gun ownership.
"In other words, it’s gun control by another name," the editorial board wrote. "It also amounts to a gun tax (as well as a boon to the insurance industry)."
The proposal doesn't provide an exception for firearms safely locked in an owner's home, according to the Gazette. Gun owners must be denied insurance at least twice or prove they can't afford the coverage before they're granted an exception.
California used an excise tax to curb gun ownership, effectively doubling the taxes on firearms. (Gun Owners of America)
"You can plead poverty, but you have to go to court first," The Gazette editorial board wrote. "How considerate of the authors."
In January, a Maryland Democrat proposed similar legislation that would prohibit gun owners from carrying unless they paid at least $300,000 in liability insurance. The bill's sponsor, Del. Terri Hill, called it "another effort at common sense gun legislation."
In California, meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law that in July will add an 11% excise tax on gun and ammunition sales on top of an existing 10% or 11% federal tax.
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"The carnage, it’s too much. We can’t normalize it, we can’t accept it," Newsom said about the nation's gun violence during a signing ceremony in Sacramento. "This is a small price to pay."
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But critics have argued that slapping more gun control policies on lawful firearm owners doesn't reduce violence and violates the Second Amendment.
"It is a blatant and egregious attack on the rights of law-abiding Californians and a calculated maneuver to dismantle the Second Amendment," the National Rifle Association's Western Regional Director Dan Reid previously told Fox News in response to the Golden State law.
Neither Woodrow nor the other two sponsors, Rep. Iman Jodeh and Sen. Chris Hansen, returned requests for comment.
Megan Myers is an associate producer/writer with Fox News Digital Originals.
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