Colorado’s Planned Purchase Permit System For Semi-Auto Guns Just Got Slapped With Legal Hurdle

Colorado faced a new legal hurdle to a permit-to-purchase system that took effect August 1 when the National Rifle Association joined a state affiliate in seeking an injunction blocking the scheme.

In April 2025, Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed legislation initially introduced as an outright ban on so-called “assault weapons” that required anyone wishing to buy a modern semiautomatic firearm, including the AR-15 rifle, to first receive a firearms safety course eligibility card, then complete a firearms safety course within five years. The NRA and Mountain States Legal Foundation backed the litigation filed by the Colorado State Shooting Association on behalf of multiple members, who sought a preliminary injunction blocking the implementation of the scheme Tuesday.

“The numbers tell the story. A law-abiding Coloradan seeking to exercise his constitutional right must pass a written exam scored more strictly than the one Colorado requires of its own police officers and must spend more money jumping through the state’s hoops than many entry-level rifles cost,” the court filing reads. “Many counties have no available trainer at all, which matters because the law requires in-person training. Others leave applicants guessing which vendors to use, whether they must appear in person, where they must go, or how long the process will take. And so on.”

Polis did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Firearms sales surged in the weeks and months before the disputed law went into effect, with over 6500 requests for background checks pending at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), as of July 28, the Pikes Peak Courier reported. Due to Colorado’s three-day waiting period, July 28 was the last day Coloradans could buy modern semiautomatic firearms without going through the process mandated by the new law.

Colorado passed a ban on standard-capacity magazines holding more than 15 rounds of ammunition in 2013, months after a mass shooting in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater. The state has received high grades from gun-control organizations Everytown and Giffords Law Center for its laws, while the Trump administration sued Denver over its outright ban on modern semiautomatic firearms and also took the state to court over its magazine ban.