NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR GUN RIGHTS v. POLIS
No. 24-1209 (D.C. No. 1:24-CV-00001-GPG-STV) (D. Colo.)
In June 2023, Colorado enacted a law that prohibits the purchase, sale, transfer, and possession of unserialized firearms, firearm frames or receivers, and firearm parts kits. The law also prohibits the manufacture of firearm frames or receivers by most Coloradans. Individual Plaintiffs and two Associations representing Colorado gun owners sued, alleging that this law infringes on their Second Amendment rights. The district court determined that it could review one of Plaintiffs’ challenges to the Colorado law, but that the others were not permitted under Article III. For the challenge it reviewed, the district court determined that the Colorado law imposes a presumptively constitutional condition or qualification on the commercial sale of firearms that does not implicate the plain text of the Second Amendment and denied Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction.
We cannot agree with the district court that the possession prohibition is purely a “condition or qualification on the commercial sale of firearms.” Although the district court characterized the Colorado statute as “pertain[ing] to prior purchases,” the at-issue provisions regulate unserialized frame and firearm possession—no matter how a person previously acquired the frame or firearm.
Judge Gordon P. Gallagher and Chief Magistrate Judge Scott T. Varholak
Panel: EID, KELLY, and CARSON, Circuit Judges. (Entered for the Court by Judge Carson, with Judge Kelly concurring in part and dissenting in part.)
Decision: We AFFIRM in part, REVERSE in part, and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Read the entire opinion here.