Second Amendment advocates file lawsuit over Colorado’s new semi-automatic weapons law

By KRDO Staff

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    COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — On Tuesday morning, Second Amendment advocates held a press conference on Colorado’s new law, SB 25-003.

The Colorado State Shooting Association said that it has filed a lawsuit, seeking to overturn the law.

“This law won’t stop crime — it will only stop Coloradans from exercising their constitutional rights,” said Ray Elliott, president of CSSA. “Colorado already has background checks. We already have waiting periods. SB25-003 piles on yet another hoop for responsible citizens while criminals ignore the rules. Enough is enough.”

The law places more restrictions on those looking to purchase a semi-automatic weapon in Colorado.

Under the law, those hoping to buy a semiautomatic are required to complete a firearms safety course every five years. The course will go over safe storing, handling, and other gun safety issues. Those applicants will then take an exam, which they must pass with at least 90%.

Sheriff’s offices are required to check that an applicant does not have criminal convictions preventing them from getting a gun. They can also deny an applicant if they have a reasonable belief that the applicant is a danger to themselves or another person.

“This mandate, which goes into effect on August 1, 2026, will in practice impose long, costly, and unnecessary waiting periods on law-abiding Coloradans — even longer than the 7-day waiting period recently struck down as unconstitutional by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Ortega v. Grisham,” read a press release by the Colorado State Shooting Association.

The law also prohibits the purchase or sale of “rapid fire conversion devices, like bump stocks and binary triggers,” according to Colorado Senate Democrats.

“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 Senator Tom Sullivan in a prior press release. “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,” he later added.

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