COLORADO, USA — The Isabella Joy Thallas Act, a gun control measure requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms to law enforcement within five days of realizing that they're missing, goes into effect Tuesday.
SB21-078 was signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis in April, and through an amendment, the bill was renamed as the "Isabella Joy Thallas Act" in honor of the woman who was murdered on June 10, 2020 while she and her boyfriend were walking their dog outside of their apartment in Denver’s Ballpark neighborhood.
>The video above is from a Jan. 5, 2021 report about the gun used to kill Isabella Joy Thallas.
The high-powered semi-automatic rifle used in the killing was stolen.
9Wants to Know confirmed earlier this year that an AK-47-style rifle belonging to former Denver police officer Sgt. Daniel Politica somehow ended up in the hands of the suspect accused of shooting and killing Thallas. Politica resigned from the Denver Police Department March 13.
A first offense for failure to make such a report is a civil infraction punishable by a $25 fine, and a second or subsequent offense is a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum $500 fine.
The bill requires a law enforcement agency that receives a report to enter information about the lost or stolen firearm into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database and report the information to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
WATCH: Video above shows the gun used to kill Isabella Thallas belonged to DPD officer
The legislation was sponsored by representatives Tom Sullivan (D-Centennial) and Leslie Herod (D-Denver).
“Lost and stolen firearms are found at crime scenes across the country every day, and data shows that tens of thousands of firearms have been stolen in Colorado in recent years,” Herod said. “Unreported lost or stolen firearms make our communities less safe, and it doesn’t have to be that way. Timely reporting of lost or stolen firearms saves lives, helps prevent crime, and it’s the simple and responsible thing to do if you realize your firearm is missing.”
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