Colorado just can't seem to leave gun owners alone, can they? The Colorado Shooting Sports Association has filed a constitutional challenge against HB 1126, a new law that lets police grab your personal information from gun dealers without a warrant, without probable cause, and without any evidence of a crime. That's not security — that's a fishing expedition.
Here's the problem: Under this law, law enforcement can walk into any gun store and demand records of purchases and transfers just because they want to. No judge. No suspicion. No constitutional oversight. The government gets to treat every legal gun buyer like a suspect, and that's a direct violation of both the Second and Fourth Amendments.
"This law authorizes government agents to access sensitive firearm ownership records without a warrant, without probable cause, and without any requirement to justify the search," said Ray Elliott, CSSA's president. "The Constitution does not permit the government to treat every law-abiding firearm owner as a suspect."
The law also piles on expensive requirements for gun dealers — mandatory security upgrades and a state-level license. For smaller FFLs, these costs could put them out of business entirely. Anti-gun Democrats claim these burdens are "absolutely necessary for public safety," but we all know they do nothing to stop criminals. They only hurt legitimate customers and the dealers who serve them.
Colorado's Tenth Circuit could be sympathetic here — they've already struck down New Mexico's waiting period as a Second Amendment violation. That's a good sign.
This is the third major lawsuit CSSA has filed recently. They're also fighting the 11% excise tax on guns and ammo from two years ago and the permit-to-purchase scheme for AR-15s taking effect in August. These folks are doing the heavy lifting.
If you can afford to, send them a few bucks. Litigation is expensive, but it's necessary when you have a state legislature that treats the right to keep and bear arms as something to be smothered.