While some Colorado lawmakers are trying to limit who is able to possess guns, one is attempting to make it easier for a specific group to get them — criminals, or at least the nonviolent ones.

State Rep. Perry Buck, R-Windsor, has introduced a bill which would allow some felons to once again possess a firearm, as long as their crimes were not violent felonies or other crimes such as burglary, arson or those involving the use of force.

“They will be allowed to have their constitutional right back,” Buck said. “There is a big difference between an income-tax felon and a homicide felon.”

Currently, the law prohibits felons from purchasing or possessing a gun or archery weaponry.

The impact of that law in unclear. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which conducts the criminal background checks necessary for gun purchases in the state, doesn’t specifically track nonviolent felonies among its reported denials. In 2012, a total of 7,362 gun background checks were denied due to criminal records and mental illness adjudications, according to CBI data.

Buck got the idea for the bill after conversations with her husband, Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck.

“It is something he feels needs to be brought to attention,” Perry Buck said.

The best predictor of future violent behavior is past violent behavior, Ken Buck said. So the bill make sense.

“Nonviolent felons are no more likely to commit a violent act in the future than non-felons are, so it is irresponsible to prohibit people from being able to protect their homes or hunt or other legal and good uses for firearms when there is no evidence to suggest that they are going to commit a violent act in the future,” he said.

So far, the bill has done what Perry Buck hoped it would. It made people think and expanded the gun control conversation on Colorado legislative level, she said.

“There hasn’t been any opposition yet,” Perry Buck said, though the bill was submitted only this week.

Buck said the bill was gaining support from Democrats but declined to say who supported it at this time.

Dave Kopel of the Independence Institute, a Colorado libertarian-leaning think tank, said if state lawmakers are serious about a true “gun-control debate,” then this bill should be part of that conversation.

“I think the general approach is probably correct,” Kopel said. “At a time of expending background checks and who isn’t allowed to have a gun, it is reasonable to reform the prohibited persons categories.”

Perry Buck said hunting was an excellent example of an activity where a non-violent felon should be allowed to possess a gun.

The Denver Post reported Tuesday that felons hunting in Colorado is a common occurrence and hotly debate topic.

Buck said the story reinforced the notion there is a difference among people who share the same negative branding.

“Right now, it is just too harsh,” Buck said.

Ryan Parker: 303-954-2409, rparker@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ryanparkerdp