Gun rights groups are suing Colorado over a newly enacted law banning so-called ghost guns. Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and the National Association for Gun Rights filed a federal lawsuit against Colorado’s Unserialized Firearms and Firearm Components bill, signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis in June.
“These pre-assembled, click together, untraceable, deadly weapons are a very dangerous loophole,” Polis said during a news briefing after he signed the bill. “And today, we’re taking an important step to close that loophole.”
Ghost guns are unassembled firearms that are created privately, and they do not have a serial number on the components. Ghost guns can be purchased online or made from a 3D printer, circumventing background checks.
Colorado’s law, which took effect Monday, Jan. 1, prohibits residents from creating gun frames and receivers, with the exception of firearm manufacturers. It also bans the possession and transportation of guns without serial numbers and the purchase of out-of-state gun kits.
Between 2017 and 2021, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) reported a 1,000% increase in the use of ghost guns in crimes across the United States.
Gun rights groups argue that Colorado’s ban is both an overreach and a challenge to Americans’ Second Amendment freedoms.
The lawsuit cites the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision, which states that gun laws must “be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
“If homemade – unserialized – guns weren’t legal at the time of our nation’s founding, we would all have a British accent,” said Taylor Rhodes, the executive director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners.
Gov. Polis, listed as a defendant in the lawsuit, has not commented on the litigation.
Colorado expanded gun control last year by enhancing red flag laws, imposing a three-day waiting period for firearm purchases, raising the purchase age to 21, and easing lawsuits against gun manufacturers.
