Colorado governor signs restrictive gun bill into law
Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill Thursday afternoon that means Colorado will have one of the most restrictive gun laws in the country. The action was made despite heavy pressure from gun rights advocates to veto it.
The new law makes it illegal to buy, sell and manufacture certain types of semi-automatic firearms without passing two background checks, obtaining a permit from a local sheriff's department and completing a firearms training course certified by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
It also outlaws rapid-fire conversion devices, like bump stocks, which make semiautomatic guns to operate like an automatic weapon.
Restrictions apply to new purchases only starting in August 2026.
"I really think this bill will make Colorado communities safer and prevent both accidents as well as reduce gun violence, and ultimately that means saving lives while protecting our Second Amendment rights," Polis said.
The new law also requires CPW to maintain a database of everyone who passes the training course, which opponents say is a defacto government registry of gun owners.
"We can't afford not to do all we can to change the continuing impact of gun violence," said bill sponsor and state Sen. Tom Sullivan, whose son, Alex, was killed in the 2013 mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora. Speaking at the bill signing, he added that the measure is "just the next step we have undertaken on that effort."
The Colorado State Shooting Association plans to sue to block the law. The group says the expense associated with obtaining a permit, training and background checks infringes on people's constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
John Commerford, Executive Director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, released the following statement after the signing:
"Behind closed doors, Governor Polis cowardly signed into law the most anti-gun, anti-freedom bill in Colorado's history. Instead of respecting the individual liberties of gun owners and hunters in his state, he bent the knee to the radical gun control element of his party. In Jared's Colorado, you need a 'Polis Permission Slip' to exercise your constitutional rights. If this proposal was popular with his citizens, it would not need to be enacted in secret."
