Colorado's new gun law: what changes on August 1, 2026

Last verified against primary sources: 2026-07-20 · Updated 2026-07-20

What the law prohibits

SB25-003, signed April 10, 2025, added a new section to the Colorado criminal code, C.R.S. § 18-12-116. Its core prohibition carries an explicit start date:

Note the verbs: manufacture, distribute, transfer, sell, purchase. Possession is not on the list. If you lawfully own a covered firearm before August 1, 2026, continuing to own it remains legal, with no registration required.

Which guns are covered

In practice that covers AR-15-pattern and AK-pattern rifles, most modern semiauto shotguns with box magazines, and gas-operated pistols (including AR-style pistols; the statute's "gas-operated" definition also expressly lists blowback-operated systems for handguns). Semiautomatic rifles and shotguns are covered regardless of operating system — for long guns the only question is whether the magazine is detachable.

What is exempt

The statute (§ 18-12-116(1)(d)(II)) excludes:

• .22-caliber and smaller rimfire semiautos — unless the firearm has a separate upper and lower receiver (so a Ruger 10/22 is exempt, but an AR-pattern .22 clone is covered);
• Manual actions: anything operated by bolt, pump, lever, or slide;
• Fixed-magazine firearms holding 15 rounds or fewer (including conversions);
• Recoil-operated semiauto handguns (single or double action) — this is why ordinary pistols like most Glocks, SIGs, and 1911s, which cycle by recoil, are not covered;
• A named list of ~30 historic and vintage rifle models as configured on the effective date — including the Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Rifle, Mini Thirty, M1 Carbine, Browning BAR variants, several Remington models (4, 8, 740, 742, 750, 7400), Springfield Armory M1A Standard Issue, and HK SL6/SL7;
• Permanently inoperable firearms, antiques (18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(16)), and curios or relics (27 C.F.R. § 478.11).

How you can still buy one: the eligibility-card pathway

The ban has a built-in exception (§ 18-12-116(3)(e)): a dealer may sell a specified semiautomatic firearm to a buyer who has completed the state's new safety-course sequence. The steps:

1. Get a firearms safety course eligibility card from your county sheriff (application, government photo ID, a name-based background check, and a fee — a $52 state course-record fee set by Colorado Parks & Wildlife plus a county-set sheriff processing fee). Sheriffs "shall issue" to qualified applicants; denials are limited to people who cannot lawfully possess a firearm, identity failures, or a documented-behavior "danger to self or others" finding, and every denial is appealable to court with the sheriff bearing the burden of proof. The card is valid five years. The state application system went live July 20, 2026.
2. Take the in-person course. If you hold a CPW-certified hunter education certificate: a basic course of at least 4 hours within 5 years before purchase. Otherwise: an extended course of at least 12 hours over at least two days. No part may be taken online, the instructor must be sheriff-verified, and the final exam requires a 90% score plus a hands-on safe-handling demonstration.
3. Buy the firearm — the normal rules still apply on top (background check, Colorado's 3-day waiting period, age 21, and the 15-round magazine limit).

Other exceptions

The prohibition does not apply to (§ 18-12-116(3)): law-enforcement agencies and certified peace officers; armed-services and National Guard members in official duties; transfers to licensed dealers for storage or disposal; gunsmiths for repair; accredited higher-education programs; blank-firing film props; and — importantly for families — inheritance: transfers "by operation of law or because of the death of a person" through an executor, administrator, or will-created trust. You can also sell a covered firearm to an out-of-state resident or any federally licensed dealer.

Penalties

Collateral consequences are wired into other statutes: a violating dealer loses its state dealer permit (§ 18-12-401.5(8)(a)(IV)(F)), a misdemeanor conviction blocks firearm purchases through CBI for five years (§ 24-33.5-424(3)(b.3)(XIII)), and a felony conviction is a permanent firearm-possession bar (§ 18-12-108(7)(jjj)).

Rapid-fire devices: a separate, immediate change

The same act reclassified "rapid-fire devices" — any part or kit that increases a semiauto's rate of fire, such as bump stocks or binary triggers — as dangerous weapons under C.R.S. § 18-12-102(1). Unlike the semiauto rules, that makes simple possession a crime, and it has been in effect since the April 10, 2025 signing. The act also raised the large-capacity magazine penalty from a class 2 to a class 1 misdemeanor.

Timeline: Colorado gun-law dates to know, 2025–2026