Polis signs 4 gun bills into law

BY ELLIOTT WENZLER THE COLORADO SUN

Gov. Jared Polis signed four gun measures into law Friday in what’s likely the most consequential tightening of gun regulations in Colorado history.

e bills expand the state’s red ag law, raise the minimum age to purchase all guns to 21, impose a three-day waiting period on rearm purchases and make it easier for people to sue the gun industry.

“Coloradans deserve to be safe in our communities, in our schools, our grocery stores, night clubs and everywhere in between,” Polis said before signing the bills.

Still pending in the legislature, and expected to pass soon, is a fth bill that would ban the creation and sale of unserialized rearms, also known as “ghost guns.”

Here’s what each of the bills signed into law Friday would do:

Red flag law expansion

Colorado’s red ag law, which allows judges to order the temporary seizure of guns from people deemed a signi cant risk to themselves or others, was created in 2019. But only family members and law enforcement have been able to petition a judge to issue a seizure order.

Under Senate Bill 170, one of the four bills signed by Polis on Friday, the list of people who can petition a judge to order a gun seizure now includes health care providers, mental health providers, district attorneys and teachers. e bill also requires the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to create an education campaign around the red ag law.

“If I hear one more time, ‘It’s not the gun, it’s the person’ but then you don’t support this law, then maybe you don’t really mean it,” said Rep. Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, a prime sponsor of the bill. “Because that’s what we’re addressing here.” e measure is aimed at increasing use of the red ag law, which hasn’t been used much in its rst few years compared to other states with similar laws, according to a Colorado Public Radio analysis. e bill’s other prime sponsors were all Democrats, including Sen. Tom Sullivan, Senate President Steve Fenberg and Rep. Mike Weissman.

Finally, the bill creates a hotline run by the Colorado Department of Public Safety to help the public get information about how to request gun seizures and to connect people with relevant resources.

Requiring that people be 21 to purchase a gun

Senate Bill 169 raises the mini- mum age to purchase any rearm in Colorado to 21. e new law also makes it illegal to sell any gun to someone younger than 21. e new law makes it a Class 2 misdemeanor to buy a gun if you are younger than 21 or for a private dealer to sell a rearm to someone who is younger than 21. Licensed dealers who sell to someone younger than 21 could be charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor. e law has exceptions for members of the military and law enforce-

“It’s just the truth that young people are far more likely to commit gun violence than their older counterparts,” said Sen. Jessie Danielson, a Wheat Ridge Democrat and prime sponsor of the bill.

It was already illegal for people under 21 to purchase handguns.