Colorado Gov. Jared Polis may have signed a sweeping new gun control law that took effect on Aug. 1, but the real story is how Coloradans responded. Law-abiding citizens raced to purchase commonly owned semiautomatic firearms. Firearm background checks skyrocketed in the weeks leading up the effective date.
According to NSSF data, there were 82,103 firearm background checks completed in July, up 264 percent from the 22,507 completed during the same month last year. The surge came as the clock ran down on Senate Bill 25-003, the restrictive law enacted by Gov. Polis that now generally prohibits the sale and purchase of certain semiautomatic rifles, shotguns and handguns unless Coloradans first satisfy a new government-mandated eligibility requirement and training scheme. NSSF condemned the law when it was signed.
Faced with a deadline after which purchasing those firearms would require even more government permission, more time and more expense, tens of thousands of Coloradans chose to vote with their wallets to exercise their Second Amendment rights before the new restrictions took effect.
Colorado’s Gun Control Countdown
Gov. Polis signed SB 25-003 in April, 2025. The law targets what the Colorado legislature calls “specified semiautomatic firearms,” including semiautomatic rifles and shotguns with detachable magazines and certain semiautomatic handguns with detachable magazines. That of course, includes modern sporting rifles, but also other commonly-used firearms as well.
The law generally prohibits the manufacture, distribution, transfer, sale and purchase of those firearms beginning Aug. 1, with limited exceptions. Coloradans seeking to purchase covered firearms through an exception must navigate a new eligibility and training regime.
Put plainly, Colorado took firearms that law-abiding citizens could legally purchase and placed new government requirements between those citizens and the exercise of their Second Amendment rights.
Colorado isn’t the first state where citizens have demonstrated what happens when politicians seek to limit their Second Amendment rights.
Ahead of Virginia Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s July 1 prohibition on MSR sales, other commonly owned firearms and standard-capacity magazines, Virginians flooded firearm retailers. June produced 123,699 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System verifications for firearm sales — a 241 percent increase from June, 2025. Statewide enforcement of those prohibitions has since been enjoined while litigation continues.
New Jersey demonstrated the other side of the equation after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision eliminated the state’s unconstitutional “justifiable need” barrier to exercising the right to carry a handgun for self-defense. State data through March 31 showed 99,689 carry permit applications since December, 2019, with the post-Bruen increase reported at nearly 5,000 percent in 2024 and in 2025, the state issued more permits than 2019 – 2023 combined.
The lesson is difficult to miss. Threaten Americans’ ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights and they rush to exercise them before the door closes. Remove an unconstitutional barrier and they walk through the door.
Permission Slips, With a Test & Fee
Colorado’s law does more than establish a new deadline. It constructs a series of government-imposed hurdles that a law-abiding citizen must clear before even purchasing a covered firearm.
Applicants first create an account in the state’s Firearms Safety System and submit an application that goes to their county sheriff. They must provide a name-based background check and government-issued photo identification. The sheriff then determines eligibility and, if approved, issues a firearms course eligibility card valid for five years.
Then comes the mandated training.
The required firearms safety course must be taught in person by a verified Firearms Safety Program instructor. Depending on previous qualifying training, an applicant may face either a four-hour basic course or a 12-hour extended course conducted over at least two days. Applicants must pass the required examination and hands-on practical shooting with a score of at least 90 percent.
Successful completion is recorded in the state’s Firearms Safety System. When the citizen finally arrives at a firearm retailer to make the purchase, the retailer must use that system to verify the purchaser has satisfied the required training before proceeding with the transaction.
There’s a monetary price tag, too. Colorado Parks and Wildlife imposes a $52 firearm training and safety course record fee. County sheriffs may charge additional administrative fees and private instructors may charge separately for the required training.
Application. Background check. Sheriff review. Eligibility card. Approved instructor. In-person training. Examination. Ninety percent passing score. State record system. Verification. Fees.
Only then can a law-abiding Coloradan complete a retail transaction for a covered firearm that, before Aug. 1, could have been lawfully purchased without navigating that state-created obstacle course. Criminals in Colorado obviously don’t do any of this.
Training in the safe and responsible use of firearms is valuable and the firearm industry has long championed firearm safety and education. But that is fundamentally different from government making its approved training program, examination and permission structure a prerequisite to exercising a constitutional right.
Coloradans Already Answered
The fourfold increase in July background checks wasn’t generated by criminals suddenly deciding to comply with firearm laws. It came as law-abiding citizens went through the legal process at firearm retailers before their elected officials made that process more burdensome.
That should tell Colorado lawmakers something. Coloradans understood what Aug. 1 meant. They answered it 82,103 times. The message from law-abiding Americans to lawmakers’ burdensome regulations is that the Second Amendment isn’t a privilege government gets to ration. It is a constitutional right they intend to exercise.
Jenn Jacques is Public Affairs Manager at the National Shooting Sports Foundation.