By Mike Soraghan
Denver Post Capitol Bureau

Feb. 2 – The Colorado Senate handed the National Rifle Association a defeat Tuesday, endorsing a strong criminal background check that could block some people from buying guns even when they’re eligible.

The senators weighed what state workers should do during an instant background check when computer records show that a potential gun buyer has an arrest record but don’t show whether the person was convicted.

Democrats and moderate Republicans decided that SB 125 by Sen. Dave Owen, R-Greeley, should put the burden on the gun buyer to prove he or she wasn’t convicted. Other Republicans said the burden should be on the government to keep complete records.

It was a victory for Gov. Bill Owens, who put his political muscle be hind the “deny on arrest” provision. Democrats crowed that it was a blow to the NRA’s powerful reputation in the Capitol.

“It was nice to see the NRA get their comeuppance,” said Senate Minority Leader Mike Feeley, D-Lakewood. “There’s hope.” The NRA will try to change SB 125′s background check program in the House, where it’s next debated, said NRA spokesman Jim Manown. But he brushed off Feeley’s taunt.

“I don’t know what that means,” Manown said. “If it makes him feel good, that’s nice.” People are not allowed to buy guns if they’ve been convicted of a felony or a domestic violence crime, or have a restraining order against them. The problem is that there’s no perfect list of such people.

No one list tracks those arrested all the way through court. Colorado officials are working on a computer program that will match arrests with what happened to the suspects in court. But that system, by the best measure, is only 35 percent effective.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation stops about 7 percent of gun sales. One-seventh of those denials were later overturned because buyers went back, got their records and proved they were eligible to get a gun. The FBI, which does not deny on arrest, rejects 1 percent of buyers.

Tuesday’s Senate vote comes as a national spotlight shines on the gun issue in Colorado in the wake of last April’s Columbine High School massacre.

But the background check has more to do with another murder in the Denver suburbs, this one in Castle Rock in June.

That’s when Simon Gonzales bought a gun and used it a few hours later to kill his three daughters, then start a gunbattle with police that left him dead. He was able to buy the gun because the the Senate State Affairs Committee had dropped the state’s background check program months before.

The FBI’s background check left in its place did not detect the restraining order taken out on Gonzales by his estranged wife. The state’s more comprehensive databases would have caught the restraining order.

“This could almost be a bill named after those kids,” said Ari Zavaras, chief of the Colorado Department of Public Safety. Zavaras, Owens’ point man on gun issues, also oversees the CBI.

After the killings, Owens rushed to restart the background check, doing a legal backflip to avoid calling a special session of the Legislature to do it. But Owens’ maneuver required that the Legislature back him up when it came back into session this year.

The ability to deny on arrest had been part of the state’s program since 1994. But as lawmakers put together legislation to carry on the program, the NRA complained that denying on arrest was unfair, even unconstitutional.

“If a person has been arrested, but not convicted, does he lose his civil rights?” Sen. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, argued Tuesday. Sen. Mark Hillman, R-Burlington, complained that the provision “turns the presumption of innocence on its head.” But supporters argued that an appeals process is much better than letting a criminal buy a gun, then use it to kill someone.

“What we’re asking is a slight inconvenience,” said Sen. Pat Pascoe, D-Denver. “I’m talking about the rights of the person who’s going to be shot.”

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