A Colorado gun owner advocacy group is asking a federal court to halt the enforcement of a new law that sets eligibility requirements to buy certain firearms.
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Senate Bill 3, passed in 2025 but which went into full effect Aug. 1, requires in-person training and background checks before people can buy rifles or shotguns with detachable magazines or gas-operated pistols — weapons popularly conceived of as assault-style rifles. The new law also “all but eliminates” the opportunity for many Coloradans to buy these firearms, according to the preliminary injunction request filed by the Colorado State Shooting Association.
“If 9 out of 10 citizens abandoned their right to vote or peacefully protest because of state-imposed barriers, the constitutional problem would be obvious,” the association wrote in its injunction request, citing an estimate of lost sales by a gun store. “It’s no less obvious here.”
The request, filed Monday, is part of a lawsuit the advocacy group filed in September trying to nullify the law on Second Amendment grounds.
The injunction includes sworn statements by several Colorado sheriffs, gun store owners and others who allege the law is vague, unworkable and negatively affecting sales. The new training and background check requirements can add hundreds of dollars to the cost of buying a covered firearm, the lawsuit states, as well as the administrative burden on government agents tasked with processing the new eligibility requirements.
Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said in a court filing that it would cost nearly $600,000 to meet the burden placed on his office by the new requirements. That would include hiring several new employees and buying new technology. The sheriff’s office would have to charge $400 per application to pay for “the permit-to-purchase scheme” created by the law, Mikesell said.
Because of cost and “significant ambiguity” with other pieces of the law, Mikesell said he is not currently accepting applications for the eligibility cards. Mikesell, who briefly ran for the Republican nomination for governor last year, appears to be one of the few, if not the only, one of Colorado’s 64 sheriffs to not participate in the program.
The lawsuit also cites a lack of availability for the required training to buy the firearms. A state database does not list trainers for every county, though several trainers said they are available statewide. None appear to offer accommodations for people with disabilities, either, according to the filing.
Spokespeople for Attorney General Phil Weiser and Gov. Jared Polis declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.
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