April 11, 2025 11:06 AM UTC

Colorado's New Gun Law Is Great If You Know What It Actually Does

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• by: Colorado Pols

Yesterday afternoon, Gov. Jared Polis signed what will go down as one of the most noteworthy pieces of legislation of the 2025 session, a bill that establishes new education requirements for the purchase of certain semiautomatic firearms like the AR-15 class of “assault weapons” used in some of the deadliest mass shootings in recent American history. From a joint release by General Assembly Democrats:

Beginning August 1, 2026, SB25-003 implements and enforces Colorado’s existing law by requiring a permit and firearm safety training to purchase high-powered firearms that accept detachable magazines. The bill also prohibits the purchase and sale of all rapid fire conversion devices, like bump stocks and binary triggers.

“High-capacity magazines are what put the ‘mass’ into mass shootings, which is why over a decade ago Colorado Democrats passed legislation to prohibit magazines that hold over 15 rounds of ammunition,” said [Sen. Tom] Sullivan. “This legislation is another in the list of policies I have worked on to develop evidence-based solutions and reduce gun violence of all types. The people of Colorado have mandated that we do something about the public health crisis that is gun violence, so that’s what we’re going to do.”

Here again is the short form explanation for what this new law does. Pay attention, because there will be a quiz later:

SB25-003 allows a person to purchase a semiautomatic firearm with a detachable magazine after undergoing a background check and completing a firearm certification course that includes information on safe gun usage, federal and state firearm laws, de-escalation and crisis intervention strategies, range time, and more.

The bill does not impact the sale of shotguns, commonly used hunting rifles, semiautomatic firearms that have fixed magazines, and the majority of handguns. While SB25-003 prohibits the sale of gas-operated semiautomatic handguns, the sale of recoil-operated handguns, which make up over 90 percent of the pistol market, are not impacted by the bill. The bill does not impact possession of currently-owned firearms. [Pols emphasis]

We’ve followed the evolution of this bill from its original language as a full ban on gas-operated semiautomatic weapons with detachable magazines to its current form requiring an additional background check and assault weapons-specific safety course to purchase the affected weapons. The bill always exempted most semiautomatic handguns by differentiating between the type of action used by the weapon, since the intent was to target rifle-caliber weapons like the AR-15 used in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting.

Consistent with their usual practice, opponents of this legislation wildly exaggerated its impact from the very beginning. Gun rights activists opposing the bill generally ignored the distinctions made in the legislation exempting most semiauto handguns, and falsely proclaimed the bill to be a “total ban on semiautomatic weapons” in order to maximize panic among gun owners. Once the bill was amended to create the training regimen, opponents switched to the objection that the bill was “denying the poor the right to self defense,” again based on the false premise that many more guns would be affected than the bill actually covers. The training course that will be required when the law takes effect includes specific instruction on Colorado gun laws including the state’s “red flag” extreme risk protection order law, and county sheriffs will have final discretion to deny permits to those they consider a risk.

There’s no question that this legislation is a big deal, creating a new screening process to purchase the deadliest weapons that includes additional background checking and education specific to these types of weapons. By retaining a path to ownership for these weapons with appropriate training and additional screening, the bill protects gun rights while potentially preventing access to those weapons by individuals who would use them to commit mass murder. This is the biggest reform to Colorado’s gun laws since the 2013 universal background check and magazine limit laws, and once again puts Colorado in the lead nationally for innovation on this long-vexing issue. It does remain to be seen how this new law will be received by the federal Justice Department, where Attorney General Pam Bondi has launched a “Second Amendment Task Force” to push laissez-faire gun policy. But that’s a fight we believe Colorado Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Phil Weiser would be happy to take on.

Because politically, Colorado Democrats have little to fear from the gun lobby despite their bellicose threats to sue, defy the law, or worse in response to this bill’s passage. Attempts at retaliation against Democrats in 2019 after the passage of the red flag law fell apart due to a lack of popular support, in particular the ill-fated attempt to recall now-Sen. Tom Sullivan that ended up boosting Sullivan’s popularity and career prospects. Although the “intensity gap” between gun rights activists and the general public on this issue is large, polling shows the public consistently supports stronger gun laws even in the Trump era.

In Colorado, the law as of August 2026 will be simple: if you need a “man card,” you can now literally get one. Just sharpen your pencil.