Gavels have been drawn over the gun-related bills introduced so far into the 2025 legislative session. Of the four introduced, two in the House and two in the Senate, only three have advanced.
H.B. 1062, a bipartisan bill concerning the penalties for theft of a firearm, the House Judiciary Committee killed in its first hearing. H.B. 1055 would repeal last year’s HB 1353 that by July 1, 2025, would require firearms dealers to secure state permits to operate in Colorado.
The two bills making their way through the Senate are what have caught the attention of The Journal’s editorial board. Senate Bill 34 would establish a voluntary registry to temporarily prohibit a person from purchasing a firearm. A person, concerned with possible harm of self or others, would sign up and be able to remove themselves via an online portal managed by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Doing so would alert retailers to their status.
If the Colorado Voluntary Do-Not-Sell Act passes, Colorado would become the fifth state with a “do not sell” registry. Currently, Delaware, Utah, Washington and Virginia have approved “do not sell” registries.
In 2022, there were just over 27,000 firearm suicide deaths in the U.S. In Colorado, in 2023, 717 Coloradans died by self-inflicted gunshot wounds, with just over half all of Colorado’s suicides by firearm.
Purchasing a firearm correlates with increased suicide risk with the rate among recent purchasers being 57 times the overall suicide rate. With many suicide attempts being impulsive, studies of suicide survivors have also found that a majority of people had suicidal thoughts for four or fewer days. Research indicates that delaying access to firearms significantly reduced gun suicide, while not increasing suicide by other methods.
The Journal’s editorial board views this bill as one more tool to reduce the incidences of suicide and a common sense complement to Colorado’s Extreme Risk Protection Orders, also known as “Red Flag Laws.”
Red Flag laws allow family and household members, and a select group of law enforcement officers, licensed health care and mental health professionals, educators, and district attorneys to petition a court to temporarily remove guns from or prohibit the sale to people who are considered to be high-risk of harm to themselves or others.
Because this registry is entirely voluntary, we hope to see it pass as it is likely to do in a Democratically controlled Legislature. We also hope to see the bill gain support from Republican lawmakers. If Utah Republicans can support it, why not Colorado?
The other bill we have our eye on is Senate Bill 3, which would ban the manufacture, sale, purchase and transfer of semiautomatic rifles or shotguns with detachable magazines. This constitutes the majority, approximately 85%, of all rifles and shotguns.
It’s understandable that Democrats are continuing to try to “do something” about gun violence, as their constituents demand in the face of continued mass shootings, when several people are injured or killed because of firearm violence.
That number of four or more people injured or killed was 584 in the U.S. in 2024. In Colorado, the last mass shooting as defined above was in 2023 at Club Q, an LGBTQ+ nightclub, in Colorado Springs where five people were killed and 25 wounded.
Gov. Jared Polis on Friday signaled he would support the bill with a major carveout the Democrats agreed to include allowing gun sales to purchasers willing to complete a Colorado Parks and Wildlife training course.
We’re in a bit of a wait-and-see mode on this one. The reality is state legislation only goes so far. Even if the bill passes, a person determined to cause violence could cross state lines to purchase the gun they intend to use and return to Colorado undetected.
In conversation with HD 59 Rep. Katie Stewart, she indicated, “Federal gun reform is really what is needed to protect both the Second Amendment and to protect our children and communities.” We tend to agree.
