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DENVER (KDVR) — It’s proposed legislation that’s drawing plenty of comment from people across the state.

Lawmakers say hundreds of people signed up to speak on the bill originally designed to prohibit the sale of so-called “assault weapons” in Colorado. It would prohibit the sale and transfer of semiautomatic rifles, along with certain pistols and shotguns.

The proposal has changed throughout the course of this legislative session. The current bill could be set for some major morphing before it leaves committee Wednesday night. Lawmakers were still set to hear several hours of debate, but the bill sponsor told fellow committee members that there could be big changes coming.

“It is my belief that there isn’t any longer a path for an intact (House Bill) 1230 to leave this committee and get to the floor,” said Rep. Elisabeth Epps, House sponsor of the bill.

Assault weapon ban proposal has seen changes

HB 23-1230 has seen its share of changes this year at the state Capitol. A draft proposal of the bill at the start of the session had another sponsor alongside Epps, of Denver. After a long wait for the bill’s introduction and another wait for a committee date, Epps now sits alone as the bill’s House sponsor, with Sen. Rhonda Fields backing it in the Senate.

“There are several versions of this opening statement I’ve considered since January 9th, and in every one of them, theme is: It’s the guns,” Epps said Wednesday morning during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the bill.

The biggest change to Epps’ opening statement was an announcement that shocked some of her colleagues and the citizens who came to testify.

“I’m probably going to, later this afternoon, ask my colleagues to consider it at some point tonight, ask to vote on amendments that will effectively narrow the bill, narrow 1230, to being applicable to rapid fire — specifically to bump stocks,” Epps said during her emotional committee testimony.

Epps said her goal is for the bill to bring Colorado into alignment with other states that have made moves to outlaw bump stocks and federal action from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to limit possession of bump stocks. A 2019 ban on the devices faces court challenges.

GOP leadership weighs in on assault weapons bill

House Republican leadership and Judiciary Committee members said they did not know about the potential change until the start of the committee meeting.

“We’re running out of time to get things done for Colorado, and putting a bill forward like this does not help that,” House Minority Leader Mike Lynch said. “And it’s also kind of an insult when this bill comes forward and its own bill sponsor comes forward and guts her own bill. So now we’re really just wasting people’s time, because what the people thought they were coming here to testify on is no longer what they are coming here to testify on.”

As of early Wednesday evening, amendments had still not been made public. But if amendments were to come, it would likely be on Wednesday night, as the 12-hour committee meeting is ramping down.