It seems almost surreal to witness a once-conservative state trample roughshod over the Constitution, but that is exactly what Governor Jared Polis did on April 10 when he signed Senate Bill 3 into law. The new law raises massive barriers to owning the most popular type of gun in America: the semi-automatic firearm.
We previously reported on this bill as it made its way through the state legislative process.
The Colorado bill is one of the most aggressive anti-gun and anti-civil liberty pieces of legislation to be signed into law in perhaps decades, eclipsing even those of traditionally liberal states like New York and New Jersey.
According to the new law, as of August 1, 2026, it will be unlawful to knowingly manufacture, distribute, transfer, sell, or purchase “specified semiautomatic firearms,” defined as:
- Semiautomatic rifles or shotguns with detachable magazines.
- Gas-operated semiautomatic handguns with detachable magazines.
The bill creates its own novel category of firearms with a new name (“specified semiautomatic firearms”) that functionally becomes a list of banned guns – a category of firearms that is simultaneously the most popular of all types of firearms owned by Americans today.
Violations are considered a Class 2 misdemeanor for the first offense and a Class 6 felony for subsequent offenses.
To exercise the privilege of owning these newly banned firearms (a caveat that presumably allowed them to pass the bill with public support), the state raises serious impediments and roadblocks including the requirement of a 4 or 12 hour firearms safety course (12 hours over at least two days), taught in-person by a verified instructor, five years prior to the purchase. The course is to cover safe handling, storage, mental health-related firearm risks, extreme risk protection orders, and victim empathy.
The individual may receive a state-issued “permit” in the form of a firearms safety course eligibility card from a local sheriff, if they pass the required background check and provide attestations.
Even in this politically charged environment it seemed fanciful that such an egregiously unconstitutional law would survive the political process, but it did.
“Senate Bill 3 is a direct assault on our Constitutional right to keep and bear arms,” said Huey Laugesen, executive director of CSSA (Colorado State Shooting Association), in a recent news release. “It turns a fundamental freedom into a privilege, prices out many Coloradans who need protection most, invades our privacy with a state registry of gun owners, and burdens taxpayers with costs we can’t afford.”
The new law is likely to be challenged within days by a lawsuit from one or more of the many, prominent Second Amendment rights groups.
