Call it a misfire.
Previously released statistics related to the newly regulated private sales of guns in Colorado — figures which became a flashpoint in recent legislative debates — don’t tell the full story.
The actual number of private gun purchases submitted to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation is much lower, a Denver Post analysis finds.
While the Colorado Bureau of Investigation reported in January that 6,198 private-sale checks were conducted from July 2013 — when the law went into effect — through December, the actual number is almost half that.
That’s because, under the “private checks” category, the CBI lumped in the newly regulated private sales with sales conducted at gun shows, which the bureau has tracked since 2001.
The Post asked the CBI to separate out the new sales and found that for the six-month period, there were only 3,838 background checks. Forty of those resulted in denials, or a rate of 1.04 percent, according to The Post’s findings.
During those same six months, CBI processed 2,361 background checks from gun shows, also netting 40 denials, according to The Post’s findings.
The gun show figures may contain checks, and denials, directly related to a private sale, if attendees went to a show for the sole purpose of a firearm transfer. However, that is impossible for the CBI to determine, said Susan Medina, agency spokeswoman.
The Post’s additional scrutiny over the numbers came on the heels of state Republicans crying foul when they claimed lawmakers were misled on the true effectiveness of the new law while debating in the current session whether to repeal the measure.
The expanded firearm background checks bill was one of multiple gun bills signed into law last year. The gun legislation directly resulted in the ousting of two Democratic state lawmakers who played pivotal roles in passing the laws. A third resigned her seat during a recall effort.
During the debates in February of this year, CBI Director Ron Sloan said 6,200 checks were processed for private sales with the new law in place.
Republicans said that information was misleading in that it gave an inflated perception of the actual effect of the bill.
The measure to repeal the expanded checks failed.
Learning of the totality of the boiled-down figures, Republican Sen. Greg Brophy said Friday the law was yielding “absurd results.”
“My side has proved this is an unnecessary burden,” he said.
State Rep. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, co-sponsor of the bill, previously said numerous times the law was clearly working if it kept a gun out of the hands of just one person who was not eligible to possess one.
Ryan Parker: 303-954-2409, rparker@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ryanparkerdp
