Years ago, a gun safety class was the socially accepted, no hesitation, expectation for owning a gun. Gun safety was at the core of how the National Rifle Association built its following. Beginning Aug. 1, 2026, Coloradans who want to purchase an AR-15 or AK-47 style of rifle will have to get a firearms safety course eligibility card, which they can only get if they are first vetted by the county sheriff. This process would also involve a background check.
These new gun purchase restrictions are a result of Senate Bill 3, considered one of the most restrictive gun laws ever adopted in Colorado, that Gov. Polis signed into law on Thursday. S.B. 3 bans the manufacture and significantly restricts the sale of certain semiautomatic firearms, some shotguns and handguns.
The goal is to put a couple of hurdles in front of what has historically been young men who are planning to commit freestyle schoolyard or movie theater violence without any pause. Today, they are purchasing those types of weapons legally.
A few pistols and shotguns that can be reloaded quickly will be included with weapons whose designs originated in the U.S. and in the Soviet Union for militaries, not majorities. Currently acquiring or owning such a designed weapon does not require the safety course or background check.
The legislation also immediately bans the bump stock attachment, which turns a semiautomatic rifle into a fast-firing weapon that’s close to being fully automatic.
The legislation’s main sponsor was Sen. Tom Sullivan, a Democrat representing Arapahoe and Douglas counties. These counties are home to Aurora where the 2012 theater mass shooting took place that killed his son Alex and 11 other people, injuring 70. Sullivan believes his son could have possibly gotten to safety if the gunman had not used a rapid-fire assault weapon.
The violence was a result of the extraordinary firepower that comes from using multiple magazines, which, in scenarios across the country, has led to mass shootings and a challenge for law enforcement. Gunfire was so intense that victims had no time to take relatively easy steps – to fall to the floor, to run for cover around a corner – to avoid being shot.
Colorado already limits the number of bullets in a purchased magazine to 15. But that, times three or four, which can be carried in a backpack, is very destructive.
The class is up to 12 hours over two days, with a test. The successful completion will have to be renewed at the end of five years in order to make another purchase.
Interpretations of the 2nd Amendment text, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,” vary considerably since today we have armed militias in the form of our military.
How to strike a balance of respecting the 2nd amendment and the right to live free of gun violence? Putting a few barriers in front of those who wish to use a semiautomatic weapon to cause harm makes sense. So, too, does keeping the opportunity available to use these weapons to those willing to take a course and talk to their Sheriff.
The 2nd Amendment in Colorado will survive this legislation. It applies to a deadly aspect of weapons that have killed too many in shootings in this state and across the country, and ought to reduce the number of future tragedies.
This legislation puts a reasonable limitation on weapons that were designed for combat and are extraordinarily destructive.
