Colorado Democrats again take aim at guns
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Democratic lawmakers are once again making firearm restrictions a centerpiece of their legislative agenda, with measures to crack down on ghost guns, put new restrictions on firearms dealers and expand the state's red flag law.
Why it matters: This is just the latest package of gun legislation since Democrats took complete control of lawmaking in 2019 — all of it part of a legislative agenda to reduce gun violence by making it harder to own a firearm.
Driving the news: The effort is spread among four bills introduced in the first weeks of the 2026 legislative session.
- The ghost guns legislation would ban the manufacturing of large-capacity magazines and possession of digital instructions to produce a firearm or its components.
- The restrictions on firearms dealers would require a state permit to transfer them to another person and add new rules for the sale of gun barrels.
- Another measure would add health care facilities and co-responders to the list of people who can petition a court to seize a person's weapons under the state's red flag law.
The latest: The red flag bill won state Senate approval along party lines Feb. 3 and now moves to the House.
- Hundreds of advocates for tougher gun laws are expected to attend a morning rally Wednesday to support the ghost gun measure ahead of a hearing on the bill in a House committee in the afternoon.
Between the lines: The measure to expand the ban on ghost guns is getting much of the attention because the firearms are difficult to trace and their owners can avoid background checks.
- The 2022 mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ bar in Colorado Springs, and the 2023 shooting at East High School both involved ghost guns.
What they're saying: "All the protections that come with the process of owning a gun are gone if you have a random person printing a firearm through a 3D printer," bill sponsor and state Rep. Lindsay Gilchrist (D-Denver) told KUNC last week.
The other side: The topic is predictably a partisan issue. Republican lawmakers are proposing legislation to repeal many of the state's gun laws as well as eliminate the current red flag law.