DENVER — A partisan fight over background checks for gun buyers stalled on Wednesday when consideration of the measure was pushed to next week so its Republican sponsor could make technical changes. But the measure has been hotly debated in the Legislature because it would do away with Colorado Bureau of Investigation background checks for potential gun buyers.

House Bill 1048, by Rep. Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs, would transfer the responsibility for background checks to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Background checks are required for any gun buyer, and since 1994, CBI has done that, albeit through the national criminal database.

The bill would eliminate CBI as a middle man, said Waller. It would save the state money and shrink state government, and gun buyers would still be checked out by the FBI, he said.

“This is a duplicative program. It’s an unnecessary program,” said Waller. “Most other states rely solely on the federal program. Let’s return these dollars to the taxpayers.”

According to the bill’s fiscal note, eliminating the CBI background checks would save the state $1.9 million annually.

Democrats argued that doing away with state checks would allow many with questionable backgrounds to buy firearms. FBI checks, for example, don’t include citizens with charges pending against them, people with restraining orders issued against them, juvenile adjudications and more, said Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder.

“I don’t think we want someone with that kind of record to be able to go out that weekend and buy a gun. It could have disastrous consequences,” said Levy.

She said CBI opposes the bill, as do the County Sheriffs of Colorado, the Colorado Association of the Chiefs of Police, and the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council.

Both parties tried to prove their points with statistics. Rep. Beth McCann, D-Denver, charged that 1,770 gun buyers denied by CBI would have been cleared by the FBI’s standards.

But Waller retorted that 76 percent of those denials were overturned on appeal, and that McCann was twisting the facts.

Rep. Daniel Kagan, D-Cherry Hills Village, tried to amend the bill to require gun buyers to sign a certificate pledging that they didn’t have criminal charges pending, but Republicans dismissed that option, saying it’s redundant.

“It’s already a felony if they’re attempting to purchase the weapon,” said Rep. Mark Barker, R-Colorado Springs, a former law enforcement officer. “They’re advised when they’re convicted of a crime that it will be a felony for them to possess the firearm or to purchase one.”

Rep. Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, said there’s no reason to change the system.

“I’d rather see the state of Colorado keep control rather than hand it over to the federal government,” Lee said.

The bill was laid over by House leadership and is expected to be heard again on the House floor next week. The measure is expected to clear the House, and then will likely die in the Democratically-controlled Senate.

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