Colorado cleared to enforce assault rifle restrictions

The gun restrictions took effect in Colorado in August, limiting ownership of semiautomatic rifles to those who completed a safety course.DENVER (CN) — A federal judge on Wednesday denied gunowners’ request to block enforcement of a Colorado law banning rapid-fire devices and restricting ownership of semiautomatic firearms to individuals who passed a safety course.“The court concludes that plaintiffs have not demonstrated that they are substantially likely to succeed on the merits of their Second Amendment challenge,” Senior U.S. District Judge William Martinez wrote in a 35-page opinion.“Accordingly, plaintiffs are unlikely to suffer irreparable injury, which rises and falls here with its likelihood of success on the merits. Finally, the balance of the equities and public interest — construed together — tips in favor of defendants,” the Barack Obama appointee added.Lawmakers passed SB25-3, the “Act Concerning the Prohibition of Certain Semiautomatic Firearms and Rapid-Fire Devices,” in 2025. The law took effect in August with first-time violators being penalized with a class 2 misdemeanor and subsequent infractions rising to a class 6 felony.In order to purchase a semiautomatic weapon in Colorado, the law now requires individuals to complete a hunter education class with a four-hour safety course, or an extended 12-hour class spanning two days. The class must be taught by a sheriff-verified firearms instructor, with the final exam results recorded in a statewide database.The sheriff is generally required to issue an eligibility card to anyone who completes the required coursework, but may deny a card if they have “reasonable belief that the documented previous behavior by the applicant makes it likely the applicant will present a danger to themselves or others.”Aiming to block the law, six individuals and the Colorado State Shooting Association sued Governor Jared Polis and Attorney General Philip Weiser, both Democrats. Weiser won term-limited Polis’ position in Tuesday’s election.In addition to citing concerns over the state law handing off implementation to county sheriffs, the gunowners cited the high monetary and temporal cost of complying with the law as burdens that warranted a preliminary injunction.To make their case, the gunowners pointed Martinez to the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. Under the high court’s two-step test, plaintiffs must first establish their conduct is protected by the Second Amendment, then the government is required to demonstrate its restriction is “consistent with the principles that underpin our nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”Citing the Third Circuit, the gunowners argued semiautomatic rifles are in commonly use and therefore protected by the Second Amendment. The state, however, pointed to decisions in the Fourth and Seventh Circuits concluding “the AR-15 is a combat rifle that is both ill-suited and disproportionate to self-defense. It thereby lies outside the scope of the Second Amendment.”The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to settle the circuit split this term. In the meantime, however, Martinez concluded the gunowners failed to show “law-abiding citizens commonly use specified semiautomatic firearms today for self-defense.”“Not only are these semiautomatic firearms particularly devastating to living tissue, not to mention commonly used in mass shootings; but there is also limited evidence to support them being necessary weapons for the self-defense of civilians,” Martinez wrote.Because the gunowners failed to overcome Bruen’s first step, Martinez did not evaluate whether the state law adequately compared to historical regulations.The firearm advocates are represented by the Mountain States Legal Foundation in Lakewood, Colorado and First & Fourteenth in D.C. They did not immediately return an inquiry for comment.The Colorado Attorney General’s Office did not immediately respond to an inquiry for comment.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads