Hundreds of Coloradans showed up at the state Capitol on Monday to cheer or jeer seven Democratic gun-control measures that senators debated late into the night.

By late Monday, two Democrat-controlled Senate committees had passed all seven bills regarding stricter gun control.

Earlier in the day, a biplane flew over the stately gold dome with a banner directed at Gov. John Hickenlooper, and drivers drove around and around the Capitol honking their displeasure with the gun bills. Inside, the number of people lined up to testify — many of them gun-rights advocates — made it nearly impossible to navigate the hallways at times.

Coloradans began lining up outside the state Capitol at 6:30 a.m. to testify, although the first bills to be heard in the Judiciary and State Affairs committee weren’t scheduled to be heard until 10:30 a.m.

Among the star witnesses for Democrats was Capt. Mark Kelly — whose wife, former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, was injured in a mass shooting outside a Tucson grocery store. He has testified in Congress in favor of stricter gun laws in the wake of mass shootings at a Colorado movie theater last July and at a Connecticut elementary school in December.

“We said this time, ‘Enough is enough, and something needs to be done,’ ” Kelly told the Senate State Affairs committee members hearing a bill on universal background checks.

Before the Judiciary Committee, Patricia Maisch, who helped disable Giffords’ shooter, testified for a bill limiting the capacity of ammunition magazines to 15 rounds.

“This bill is an attempt to reduce the slaughter,” said the sponsor, Sen. Mary Hodge, D-Brighton.

But victims of other tragedies, including survivors from the Columbine High School shooting, urged lawmakers to vote “no.”

Adam Thompson was a junior when two classmates tried to blow up Columbine and then began shooting when their bombs failed.

“I struggled 12 years dealing with survivor guilt and that I was put in a position where I was defenseless and so were the people around me that were supposed to keep me safe,” he said. “I never want to be defenseless again. … I have become a firearms owner.”

Opponents argued that the bills trample their constitutional rights and were unenforceable, and they accused Democrats of taking their marching orders from the White House.

“So, did the vice president give you help with this?” Sen. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, asked when a bill restricting firearms for domestic-violence offenders was debated.

Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Westminster, hotly reminded King that at the start of her testimony she said she was inspired to carry the bill because a student of hers who was being stalked was murdered.

But when Second Amendment expert Dave Kopel’s phone rang in another committee as he was testifying against a bill requiring universal background checks, he couldn’t resist. “Karl Rove just can’t leave me alone,” Kopel said, to laughter.

In both committees, some of the state’s sheriffs stood side by side when one of their colleagues testified against the gun bills.

Three of the bills that passed Monday will be heard Wednesday in the Democrat-controlled Appropriations Committee, where public testimony traditionally is limited and usually restricted to the financial aspect of a proposal.

All seven bills will be debated Friday on the Senate floor, where Democrats have a 20-15 majority. Republicans need to peel off three votes to kill any of the measures.

Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, said she supports only two of her party’s seven gun measures: Her bill to restrict online training for concealed-carry permit holders and universal background checks.

Retired police Officer David Strumillo of Colorado Springs brought his three children: Morgan, 14, and twins Eden and Indiana, 11.

“This is better than any civics lesson that can be taught in class,” said Strumillo, who has concerns about the measures.

The biplane flying over the Capitol carried a not-so-subtle message to the Democratic governor: “Hick, don’t take our guns.”

In the parking circle around the Capitol, Sen. Greg Brophy created a stir by having Magpul, an Erie-based ammunition-magazine manufacturer, park a Unimog — an enormous four-wheel-drive vehicle — with a Magpul logo in his spot. The company has threatened to leave Colorado if one of the gun measures, limiting ammo rounds, passes.

Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327, lbartels@denverpost.com or twitter.com/lynn_bartels Staff writers Tim Hoover and Ryan Parker contributed to this report.