Colorado's stack, and the technology to fight it
Theme: We work constantly to save our industry and preserve our rights. We build the tools to do it, and we need you to use them.
1. Open: the stack
2:30"Colorado has passed more than twenty firearms laws since 2023. None of them arrived all at once, and none passed in a vacuum. Each one builds on the last. Built piece by piece, it can be traced piece by piece. That's what we do."
"What passed is only half the story. Look at what they tried, and what came back the next year."
"Who may buy. What you may own. Where you may carry. How dealers operate. What it costs. Who can take them away."
Who may buy 4 laws
Minimum age to buy any firearm rises to 21. A dealer may not sell to anyone under 21, with narrow military and peace-officer exceptions.
Three-day waiting period. A dealer may not hand over a firearm until three days after starting the background check.
From Aug 1, 2026, selling or buying a "specified semiautomatic firearm" is unlawful except to a buyer who holds the state eligibility card, which takes a course and a sheriff's approval. The dealer checks the card at the counter.
CBI's background-check hours are now set by its "business needs." The bill's own stated reason: the 2023 waiting period "reduced CBI's need to provide immediate background check services." One law becomes the reason for the next.
What you may own 3 laws
The large-capacity magazine ban. Later laws borrow its definition.
Regulates unserialized firearms and firearm components.
Bans making a firearm, an unfinished frame or receiver, a large-capacity magazine or a rapid-fire device with a 3-D printer or a CNC mill. First offence a misdemeanor, second a felony. Only federally licensed manufacturers and accredited gunsmithing programs are exempt, so a retail dealer or gunsmith with a CNC is not. In force July 1, 2026.
Where you may carry: concealed carry 3 laws
Bans carrying a firearm in a list of "sensitive spaces."
Sets state standards for the training classes required for a concealed-carry permit.
A firearm left in an unattended vehicle must be securely stored. In force Jan 1, 2025.
How dealers operate 7 laws
A state dealer permit on top of the federal licence ($400), required of every dealer from July 1, 2025. A new Department of Revenue Firearms Dealer Division, and on-site inspections of a random 10% of permit holders every year.
Makes the Firearms Dealer Division's director and investigators peace officers, with authority that "includes the enforcement of all the laws of the state."
Tightens the state permit and allows warrantless inspection of dealers. Signed and in effect June 2, 2026. Phase-ins follow: fines up to $75,000 for repeat offences from Jan 1, 2027. CFFLA is suing over it.
New requirements on gun shows, their promoters and every vendor who sells there.
No ammunition sales to anyone under 21. The seller must check a government photo ID in person.
Businesses that process a firearm retailer's card payments must code them with the firearms merchant category code.
Every Colorado police agency must join ATF's eTrace and its data-sharing, and submit recovered guns within 90 days. Not a dealer duty, but traces lead back to the dealer who sold the gun.
What it costs 1 law
A 6.5% excise tax on firearms, parts and ammunition, approved by voters as Proposition KK. The dealer collects it.
Who can take them: red flag and lawsuits 3 laws
Widens who may petition a court for an extreme risk protection order.
Now an institution can petition: school districts, private and charter schools, colleges, licensed hospitals and behavioral health facilities. The respondent can be "a person under eighteen years old." Petitioners may disclose the person's health information when they file.
Opens Colorado courts to lawsuits against "firearm industry members" under state consumer-protection law.
Attempted, and failed: more restrictions 5 bills
Prohibit assault weapons in Colorado.
Killed in the House Judiciary Committee.
Let counties prohibit firearm discharge.
Died in a Senate committee.
Prohibit certain weapons used in mass shootings.
Died in a Senate committee.
Require firearm owners to carry liability insurance.
Laid over on the Senate floor and died.
Record-keeping and sale regulation for firearm barrels.
Laid over on the House floor at the end of session and died.
Attempted, and failed: bills to restore rights 5 bills
Second Amendment Preservation Act.
Killed in a House committee.
Repeal the state dealer permit (HB24-1353).
Killed in the House Business Affairs & Labor Committee.
Second Amendment Protection Act.
Killed in the House Judiciary Committee.
Right to firearm possession and repeal of extreme risk protection orders.
Killed in a House committee.
Constitutional carry of a handgun.
Killed in the House Judiciary Committee.
Also signed into law 3 laws
Gives CBI authority to investigate firearms crimes.
A voluntary do-not-sell firearms waiver.
A procedure to request a firearm serial-number check.
2. The impact
1:30"Since 2022, Colorado has lost more than a third of its retail gun dealers, the steepest decline of any state. The average state lost about 14%. That's ATF's number, not ours."
| Colorado (1,470 → 939) | −36.1% |
| Next 5 steepest (CA, WA, NJ, KY, NY) | −28.9% |
| Average of the 50 states | −14.5% |
- Mid-2025: the state dealer permit became mandatory on July 1, 2025. Colorado went from 1,255 dealers in March to 1,088 in September, one in eight gone in six months. The rest of the country lost fewer than one in fifty.
- HB26-1126 was signed and took effect June 2, 2026. From May, just before it, to September: Colorado −4.5%, the rest of the U.S. −0.8%.
3. The lawsuits
1:00"We track every case and list who is actually bringing it. Our goal is to platform everyone, because it's one team, one fight. We don't have time to play games with each other."
"The other side shows up together. The same names appear on bill after bill. We have to show up together too, and we're building the technology that makes that easy."
| Case | Challenges |
|---|---|
| CFFLA et al. v. Polis | HB26-1126 warrantless dealer inspections. Plaintiffs: three Colorado dealers, the Colorado State Shooting Association and CFFLA. |
| RMGO v. Polis | HB23-1219 waiting period |
| Del Toro v. Polis | SB25-003 semiautomatic permit-to-purchase |
| United States v. Colorado | The 2013 magazine ban |
| Langston v. Humphreys | HB24-1349 excise tax |
- All five are active. Don't describe rulings.
4. Where it's going
0:45- The Department of Revenue holds its dealer-rules hearing on Oct 30. Our members are drafting their comments now.
- The 2027 session opens in January.
"We'll see step one coming, because we're watching."
5. How we fight
1:45"We work with Umbrella, the Colorado Bipartisan Violence Report team, the Renhorne Policy Institute and other non-partisan groups to put real data up front, where anyone can use it."
"Umbrella traces every rule back to the bill that created it and the legislators who wrote it. If a rule benefits you, you should know who to thank. If it harms you, you should know who to hold accountable."
"Umbrella is neutral. It maps who did what. CFFLA is not neutral. We use that map to fight for our industry."
- Through partners like FTOMS (co2aportal.com), we at CFFLA are working to make this livable for dealers.
- Umbrella's guide: umbrellacivic.com/guide. Renhorne Policy Institute: renhornepolicy.org.
- "Our position is ours. Our data is everyone's. We don't ask you to trust us. We show you the source."
6. All of it is searchable
1:30"Everything I've shown you is searchable, on our website and through tools we provide. A dealer at the counter shouldn't need a lawyer to find out what the law says. We dissolve the illusion of complexity."
- Gun law search: plain-language search across Colorado statutes, bills and rules, with a page for each law.
- GunLawBot: early-stage. Ask in plain English; it cites the law it relied on and tells you to verify. The first question is free.
- Documents: federal and state forms and agency guidance in one library.
- Litigation: the active cases, and what each one challenges.
- Dealer data: the ATF counts behind this chart, month by month.
- The SB25-003 purchase process explained step by step.
- Rulemaking comments drafted from issue cards we have verified.
- Report an impact: what we collect goes to the legal professionals working these cases.
7. The ask and close
1:00"This is volunteer-built, and it's early. It works today, and it gets better every time someone uses it. We need two things from this room. Support, to develop the technology. And users: people and organizations who will use it, break it and tell us how to make it better. If your state is at step one, it's built to be reused. Talk to us."
"We track what's happening at the regulatory level so our industry is ready for what's coming and can cope with what's already here."
- Point to the QR code: cffla.org/public
Keep out of the talk
- "Caused" about the dealer decline. Say "since 2022".
- Knife vs. gun. CBI data shows firearms in 73.5% of homicides.
- Counts of members, supporters, reports or donations.
- The SB25-003 customer portal. It isn't live.
- Case rulings. Describe the cases as "active" only.
- Any promo code or specific site section until Sean confirms it.
- Claiming GunLawBot gets every stack law right. It doesn't yet. Point people to the per-law pages for the stack.
- A live GunLawBot demo, except with one of these three tested questions: "Where am I not allowed to carry a gun in Colorado, like polling places or the Capitol?" · "What training do I need for a Colorado concealed carry permit?" · "Under federal law, who is prohibited from possessing a firearm?"
- "Bipartisan" about CFFLA itself.