By JESSE BEDAYN (Associated Press/Report for America) DENVER (AP) — A bill to ban the sale and transfer of semi-automatic firearms was nixed in Colorado’s Democratic-controlled Legislature on Tuesday as lawmakers pressed forward with a slew of other gun control bills on the 25th anniversary year of the Columbine High School massacre. The western state has a deep history with firearms that is pockmarked by some of the most high-profile mass shootings nationwide.