DENVER — Colorado lawmakers on Thursday heard a bill that would repeal 2024 legislation requiring firearms dealers to obtain a permit in order to sell guns in the state.
House Bill 24-1353 passed during the 2024 legislative session and was signed into law by Governor Jared Polis in June 2024. It requires firearms dealers to obtain a state-level permit to conduct business beginning July 1, 2025.
House Bill 25-1055 would repeal HB24-1353. State Representative Max Brooks, the prime sponsor of the bill, told Denver7 his reasoning for the legislation is simple.
"1055 is a very simple, straight-line repeal of last year's 24-1353. That bill sought to put duplicative permitting processes and fee processes on federal firearms dealers right in Colorado," he said. "This is a repeal of that specific legislation. Very simple. We don't have the money."
- Read HB 25-1055's fiscal note below
Ian Escalante, the executive director of the gun rights advocacy group Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, sides with Brooks, saying he believes last year's bill will only hurt small gun shop owners.
"There are a lot of gun shops across the state of Colorado that don't want to have to deal with this burdensome permitting system," he said. "They're all very upset about this. This was not needed legislation at all."
Others, however, strongly disagree with the repeal attempt. Juli Nort, a gun violence survivor and volunteer with the Douglas County chapter of Moms Demand Action, told Denver7 she was thrilled with last year's legislation and believes in it wholeheartedly.
"It's saying we want to have our state firearms dealers be inspected. We want them to also be educated. We want to have anybody who works there have a background check. These are all really reasonable asks of firearms dealers," she said.
Nort said repealing that legislation is unfathomable to her.
"It doesn't make any sense to me," she said. "Why would you want to repeal something that sets the standard?"
Nort added, "We have firearm dealers who are responsible and are doing things right. Why would you want to get people who aren't doing things right a pass and not be, you know, followed and inspected and have recourse when they sell firearms that they shouldn't people who shouldn't have them? So this is about public safety. It's really important."
HB 25-1055's hearing coincided with Moms Demand Action's advocacy day, which Nort participated in. She and others, including State Representative Meg Froelich, showed up at the State Capitol early Thursday morning to take part.
"We're really lucky in Colorado because their activism has really actually manifested into really good legislation," Froelich said of Moms Demand Action. "It's tremendous to have this because in the old days, we had lots and lots of people in the building, but not so many folks advocating for gun violence prevention. And Moms Demand have really made a difference."
Dozens of people signed up to give testimony in favor of and against HB 25-1055. That testimony and questioning went past 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.
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