The Colorado legislature is moving quickly to pass bills that would prevent people from making their own firearms without government permission. Two bills appear likely to become law. The two bills are expected to be signed by Governor Jared Polis. House Bill 1144 has passed the House 40 – 25 on a party-line vote and was introduced in the Senate yesterday. Senate Bill 43 passed the Senate 19-16, with four Democratic senators joining 12 Republican senators to vote against it.
House Bill 1144 prohibits the manufacture of firearms by “3D printing”, except for people licensed by the government:
Knowingly manufacturing or producing a firearm, unfinished frame or receiver, large-capacity magazine, or rapid-fire device (firearm or firearm component) by 3-dimensional printing. The prohibition does not apply to a federally licensed firearm manufacturer , an instructor or student of an accredited gunsmithing program, or an institution that operates an accredited gunsmithing program. Unlawful three-dimensional printing of a firearm or firearm component is a class 1 misdemeanor; except that a second or subsequent offense is a class 5 felony.
House Bill 1144 defines 3D printing broadly, to mean both additive and subtractive manufacturing. The bill also makes it illegal for most people to offer or sell digital instructions in a rather broad and vague way:
Knowingly offering to sell or distributing digital instructions that may be used for an activity that constitutes a violation of specified existing state law concerning unlawful conduct involving an unserialized firearm, frame, or receiver.
Senate Bill 43 requires firearm barrels to be sold or transferred by a federally licensed dealer in person. From legiscan.com, a summary of the bill:
The bill requires a firearm barrel to be sold or transferred in person by a federally licensed firearm dealer. A person who is not a federally licensed firearm dealer shall not possess a firearm barrel with the intent to sell or transfer, or with the intent to offer to sell or transfer, the firearm barrel. Unlawful sale of a firearm barrel and unlawful possession with intent to sell a firearm barrel are each an unclassified misdemeanor.
A person must be 18 years old or older and legally allowed to purchase a firearm under state and federal law to purchase a firearm barrel, subject to certain exceptions.
The bill requires a federally licensed firearm dealer to record a sale or transfer of a firearm barrel for at least 5 years.
The bill requires the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to create a form for federally licensed firearm dealers to record a sale or transfer of a firearm barrel.
Both bills are likely to be challenged as unconstitutionally infringing on rights protected by the Second Amendment. In the Bruen decision, the Supreme Court ruled that infringements on the Second Amendment are only allowed if they were understood to be acceptable as part of the right to keep and bear arms in 1791, when the Bill of Rights was ratified. The Senate bill on barrel sales only applies inside the State of Colorado, so Colorado residents could purchase barrels in other states if the sale was done outside the state of Colorado. It is unclear whether Colorado could prevent the mailing of a firearm barrel to someone in Colorado from outside the state.
Colorado is likely to argue these measures are only regulations on the commercial sale of firearms, and the Supreme Court in Heller noted some regulations on commercial sales are allowed.
Challengers to the bill will likely argue that it directly infringes on the right to acquire firearms by making your own, an activity practiced since before the Constitution was written. The challengers will likely argue that the right includes the right to purchase firearms parts, such as barrels.
There may be a challenge to the law claiming the state does not have the authority to regulate federally licensed dealers.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
