(USNewsMag.com) – The groups Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and the National Association for Gun Rights are suing the state of Colorado, saying its newly enacted law that bans “ghost guns” is unconstitutional.
Signed by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, the new law, Senate Bill 23-279, prohibits the purchase, ownership, transport, and possession of receivers and gun frames not stamped with serial numbers. Anyone in possession of a ghost gun had until the law went into effect on Jan. 1 to get the ghost guns stamped with serial numbers at a licensed firearms dealer. The law required a licensed firearms dealer to complete a background check before the gun could be returned.
In a Jan. 1 press release, the group said they filed the federal lawsuit because the new law infringes on Second Amendment rights.
Rocky Mountain Gun Owners Executive Director Taylor D. Rhodes said that the new law is “not just an overreach” but is a “direct defiance to our Second Amendment freedoms.”
Rhodes said the law is an “attempt to restrict gun rights.” He added that the law would “not stand up under scrutiny” and referenced the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2022 ruling in the New York State Rifle and Pistol Associate v. Bruen case. The ruling overturned a law in New York that required a license to publicly carry concealed weapons because it was unconstitutional. It stated that gun laws must be “consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.” Rhodes said Colorado’s new law “clearly does not meet this standard.”
Colorado passed other gun control laws in 2023, including raising the minimum age from 18 to 21 to purchase a firearm and requiring a three-day waiting period between the purchase and receipt of any firearm. Those laws are also facing legal challenges.
In 2023, President Joe Biden signed a federal gun bill that changed the definition of firearm to include parts, requiring manufacturers to put serial numbers on receivers and gun frames. The bill is facing challenges in court.
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