Colorado’s Aug. 1 firearm permit law hands the live discretion to sheriffs and DOR

DENVER — On Aug. 1, 2026, Colorado’s permit-and-card regime for a defined class of semiautomatic firearms goes live. SB25-003 was signed by Gov. Jared Polis on April 10, 2025. It prohibits the manufacture, distribution, transfer, sale, or purchase of a “specified semiautomatic firearm” on or after that date unless the buyer holds a firearms safety course eligibility card issued by their county sheriff.

The day-to-day discretion that will shape how Coloradans actually experience the new law sits with elected county sheriffs and with a division inside the Colorado Department of Revenue charged with telling dealers which specific firearm models the statute reaches.

What the statute itself defines

The technical scope of the law is fixed by the bill text. Section 18-12-116(1)(c) defines a “gas-operated semiautomatic handgun” as any semiautomatic handgun that “harnesses or traps a portion of the high-pressure gas from a fired cartridge to cycle the action” using one of five enumerated mechanisms: a long-stroke piston system, a short-stroke piston system, a direct-impingement system, a hybrid system combining the long-stroke piston with either the short-stroke piston or the direct-impingement system, and a blowback-operated system. A “specified semiautomatic firearm” covers either a semiautomatic rifle or shotgun with a detachable magazine, or a gas-operated semiautomatic handgun with a detachable magazine.

County sheriffs are the issuing authority

Under §18-12-116(5)(b), each sheriff issues the firearms safety course eligibility card and has explicit statutory discretion to deny or revoke it. A sheriff “may deny an application if the sheriff has a reasonable belief that documented previous behavior by the applicant makes it likely the applicant will present a danger” to himself or others. When a denial or revocation rests on that reasonable-belief standard, the sheriff carries the burden of proof by clear and convincing evidence on appeal.

Sheriffs are elected county representatives in 62 of Colorado’s 64 counties. Denver’s sheriff is appointed by the mayor, and Broomfield handles the role through its police chief. Their reading of “reasonable belief” is the standard any given applicant runs into first. Ammoland reported on the signing that sheriffs “have significant discretion in this process.”

The Department of Revenue tells dealers which models qualify

The bill’s only delegation of interpretive authority over the firearms themselves goes to the Department of Revenue. Section 24-35-122 states that “the division in the department of revenue responsible for issuing state firearms dealer permits shall provide guidance and clarification to assist in the implementation of section 18-12-116” and “shall publish and make publicly available guidance about specific models of firearms to which section 18-12-116 (2) applies.”

That is a model-by-model job, applying the statutory definitions to the commercial inventory dealers actually stock. The division reports up through a department headed by a Polis appointee. Its model guidance is what dealers will be expected to follow at the counter.

Course standards and records keeping go elsewhere again. The Division of Parks and Wildlife develops the course requirements, builds the training-records system, and creates the application form.

How the law looks from inside a dealer

Teddy Collins, co-owner of Spartan Defense Armory & Training in Colorado Springs and the lone Republican on the June 30 primary ballot for Colorado Senate District 4, joined The Kim Monson Show Thursday to walk through what the Aug. 1 effective date means for buyers and shops. “August 1st, there’s going to be some major changes in how you exercise your constitutional right in the state of Colorado,” Collins said. “Governor Polis decided to sign 003 last year, and the Democrats passed it on a complete party-line partisan vote.”

Collins serves as vice president of industry for the Colorado State Shooting Association and sits on its board.

The 2026 attorney general race is the litigation question

The office controls the state’s legal posture: defending SB25-003 against constitutional challenges, choosing whether to join Bruen-era Second Amendment litigation, and setting prosecutorial priorities for firearms cases.

Incumbent Phil Weiser is term-limited and is running for governor, per the Colorado Sun. The June 30, 2026 primary ballot is set. Four Democrats are running: Jena Griswold, the current Colorado secretary of state (41.78 percent at the March 28 state assembly); David Seligman, executive director of the nonprofit Towards Justice (40.61 percent); Michael Dougherty, the Boulder County district attorney (17.62 percent and petitioned on); and Hetal Doshi, a former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the DOJ Antitrust Division (petitioned directly). Two Republicans cleared assembly: Michael Allen, district attorney for the 4th Judicial District, and David Willson, per KRDO.

Collins, on the air Thursday, named Griswold as the Democrat his shop is most concerned about and said he is backing the Republican primary winner to take the seat. Whoever inherits the office in January 2027 inherits the state’s defense of SB25-003 if the Colorado State Shooting Association or another plaintiff brings a facial challenge.

What the next year actually holds

The Department of Revenue division finishes its model guidance between now and Aug. 1. Sheriffs build out their card-issuance workflows. Dealers rework their point-of-sale process. The June 30 primary narrows the AG field. By the November 3 general election, the law has been in effect three months. The attorney general elected in November takes the oath in January 2027.

The question of who gets a card is answered across 64 county-level offices every working day starting Aug. 1.