The Colorado arm of the National Rifle Association announced on Tuesday that it has filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s new law requiring individuals to complete a safety training course through Colorado Parks and Wildlife to be eligible to buy or sell semiautomatic rifles, shotguns or handguns with detachable magazines.

Gov. Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 003 last April. The law — sponsored by Sens. Tom Sullivan, D-Centennial, and Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, and Reps. Andrew Boesenecker, D-Fort Collins, and Meg Froelich, D-Englewood — will go into effect on Aug. 1, 2026.

In its lawsuit, the Colorado State Shooting Association argued the law is unconstitutional and places “unlawful burdens on the rights of law-abiding Coloradans.”

“A government that makes you ask permission to buy a firearm isn’t protecting your rights — it’s trampling them,” said Ray Elliott, the group’s president. “We believe the courts will see this law for what it is: a blatant infringement of our Second Amendment freedoms.”

The suit was filed in the United States District Court by the Mountain States Legal Foundation on behalf of CSSA and six individual plaintiffs, who claimed to be directly affected by the law.

The legal outfit said the law is unconstitutional under the Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, a 2022 case in which the court found New York’s law requiring permits for concealed-carry licenses was unconstitutional.

“If the State of Colorado were to try these backhanded tactics to limit any other fundamental right — whether that be religion, speech, or the right to counsel, those statutes would be quickly struck down as unconstitutional by even the most partisan of jurists,” said Michael McCoy, the legal group’s director of the Center to Keep and Bear Arms. “But when it comes to the Second Amendment, these tactics to limit our God-given right to keep and bear arms for self-defense have borne fruit for far too many states . . . and for far too long. No more!”

McCoy said he is confident that, with the “clear precedent” out of the U.S. Supreme Court and the Tenth Circuit, the Colorado will not survive legal scrutiny.

Supporters of the new law have it would help prevent mass shootings, such as those at the Aurora movie theater, Boulder King Soopers, and Club Q in Colorado Springs, which were carried out with semiautomatic weapons with detachable magazines.

Rep. Cecelia Espinoza, D-Denver, a former judge, argued that any lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of SB 3 would not hold up, as legal challenges to similar and sometimes even stricter gun control measures have failed almost unanimously.

The Supreme Court has recognized that the right to bear arms is “not absolute” and can be subject to “reasonable regulations,” she said.

Opponents have warned that the measure will face a slew of lawsuits.

Meanwhile, in April, House Republicans penned a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, asking for a federal investigation into the constitutionality of the law. It is not immediately clear if Bondi has responded.

The post Colorado gun rights group sues over state’s safety training mandate appeared first on Colorado Politics.