NRA-ILA | NRA Joins Legal Fight Against Colorado’s Permit-to-Purchase Law for Semiautomatic Firearms

The National Rifle Association has joined the legal fight against SB25-003, Colorado’s permit-to-purchase scheme for certain semiautomatic firearms.

SB25-003, passed in 2025, subjects Coloradans seeking to acquire common semiautomatic firearms to an extraordinary government-mandated gauntlet. Specifically, applicants must first seek out and obtain a background check from a third-party vendor; obtain the completed check and the vendor’s attestation that it performed the check, in a form unspecified by statute; submit to their county sheriff an application accompanied by government-issued photographic identification, the results of their background check, and the vendor’s attestation; and pay a firearms-safety-course eligibility fee. The applicant must then wait an unspecified amount of time for the sheriff to review the application—a process that, contrary to Supreme Court precedent, grants the sheriff discretion to deny the application based on a predictive judgment about future behavior. If approved, the applicant must complete 12 hours of in-person instruction over at least two days (unless they have completed hunter education, in which case they qualify for a shorter four-hour course) and pass a written examination with a score of at least 90%. Only then may the applicant purchase the firearm, after which the applicant must still undergo another background check and wait three days before taking possession.

The law took effect on August 1, 2026, and its implementation has already been plagued by confusion, delays, and outright barriers to acquiring firearms. Counties have adopted inconsistent procedures, and some counties are not issuing the required eligibility cards at all, effectively barring residents from acquiring covered firearms. Even where the process is available, Coloradans face significant travel, scheduling, and financial burdens just to begin the process.

The case, Del Toro v. Polis, was brought by the Colorado State Shooting Association, an NRA state affiliate, and five CSSA members—Israel Del Toro, Luke Sorensen, Nathanael Skiver, Jason Reeves, and Garrett Flicker.

NRA-ILA counsel has joined attorneys from the Mountain States Legal Foundation and First & Fourteenth PLLC to represent the plaintiffs in their lawsuit. Yesterday, the plaintiffs moved for a preliminary injunction to halt enforcement of SB25-003’s permit-to-purchase provisions while the case proceeds. The motion argues that the law violates the Second Amendment by imposing an abusive, ahistorical permitting system that effectively prevents law-abiding Coloradans from exercising their constitutional right to acquire common firearms.

Please stay tuned to www.nraila.org for future updates on NRA-ILA’s ongoing efforts to defend your constitutional rights, and please visit www.nraila.org/litigation to keep up to date on NRA-ILA’s ongoing litigation efforts.