Billwatch

Requires firearms dealers to hold a state dealer permit for any firearm transfer, and extends the permit's background qualifications and training obligations to responsible persons and to contractors who perform employee duties involving firearms. Expands retail record-keeping from pistols and revolvers to all firearm transactions, permits electronic records, and bars any state agency from using dealer records to build a firearm ownership registry. Authorizes the department of revenue to fine dealers up to $75,000 for repeat violations of dealer requirements committed on or after January 1, 2027. Dealers must also secure large-capacity magazines, implement department-approved security measures beginning October 1, 2027, and report any theft or loss of a firearm within 48 hours of discovering it.

Requires every local law enforcement agency to register, on or before September 1, 2026, for the federal bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives' national electronic tracing system. Each agency must then transmit information about every firearm it recovers or confiscates into that tracing system within 90 days of the recovery or confiscation. Certain exceptions apply to the transmission requirement.

Removes the statutory mandate that the Colorado bureau of investigation's firearms background check unit remain open 12 hours a day, letting the bureau set operating hours that best meet its business needs for timely processing. Requires the bureau to place each background check request into the processing queue immediately and to accept requests every calendar day except Thanksgiving and Christmas. Also requires an annual report to the house and senate judiciary committees covering processing times, operating hours, system outages, and efficiency measures.

Defines three-dimensional printing to include both additive and subtractive manufacturing. Prohibits knowingly manufacturing or producing a potentially functioning firearm, unfinished frame or receiver, large-capacity magazine, or rapid-fire device by three-dimensional printing, with exemptions for federally licensed firearm manufacturers and accredited gunsmithing programs, their instructors, and their students. Makes a first violation a class 1 misdemeanor and a second or subsequent offense a class 5 felony. The prohibitions reach only potentially functional firearms and firearm components.

Adds a co-responder who participates in a co-responder community response to the list of community members who may petition a court for an extreme risk protection order. Establishes health-care facilities, behavioral health treatment facilities, school districts, the state charter school institute, K-12 charter schools, private schools, and institutions of higher education as institutional petitioners. Institutional petitioners may petition a court for an extreme risk protection order in the same manner as other listed community members.

Requires one or more criminal charges to be brought against a property owner before any nuisance abatement or forfeiture proceeding, and tightens the noninnocent-owner exception so a conviction of the nonowner criminal defendant must come first. Gives indigent forfeiture defendants a right to appointed defense counsel, provided through a contracted legal-services vendor and paid from a new forfeiture defense counsel fund capped at $500,000. Changes the split of forfeited proceeds to 50% for the local government, 25% for the defense counsel fund, and 25% for the local behavioral health administrative services organization. Appropriates $556,750 to the judicial department for forfeiture defense contracting and $55,000 for forfeiture portal administration.

Requires a firearm barrel to be sold or transferred in person by a federally licensed firearm dealer, and bars anyone else from possessing a barrel with the intent to sell or offer to transfer it. Makes unlawful sale of a firearm barrel and unlawful possession with intent to sell each an unclassified misdemeanor. Requires purchasers to be at least 18 years old and legally eligible to buy a firearm under state and federal law, subject to exceptions. Dealers must keep a record of every barrel sale or transfer for at least five years, using a form the Colorado bureau of investigation is directed to create.

Narrows the definition of an eligible nonprofit organization under the school security disbursement program to organizations based in Colorado that provide school safety incident response, violence prevention, and behavioral health training at no cost to local education providers, law enforcement agencies, and other first responders. Requires the department of public safety to disburse all awarded grant money for the upcoming school year no later than August 1 of that year. Directs the department to give priority to applicants that commit to providing their training at no charge.

Authorizes the Colorado bureau of investigation to participate in the federal bureau of investigation's rap back service. That service lets authorized agencies receive notification of activity on individuals who have submitted to a fingerprint-based criminal history record check. Participation gives the bureau access to the federal notification system on behalf of those authorized agencies.

Prohibits a government entity from accessing any database that reveals an individual's or a vehicle's historical location information, subject to exceptions. Bars sharing that information with third parties or with government agencies outside the entity's jurisdiction, and exempts historical location information from disclosure under the Colorado Open Records Act. Requires each collecting entity to adopt a compliance policy, and creates an enforcement action for the attorney general. Information obtained in violation of the prohibitions is inadmissible at trial.

Prohibits law enforcement and other government entities from purchasing, or otherwise obtaining for anything of value, certain personal data from third parties, and bars such entities from sharing individuals' personal data with one another. Creates exceptions for data obtained under a judicial warrant, subpoena, or court order, for data an individual consents to share, and for emergencies involving a threat to life or physical safety. Establishes a private cause of action for anyone whose data is obtained or shared in violation of the prohibitions. Personal data obtained or shared unlawfully is excluded from trial and other court proceedings, subject to exceptions.

Grants a person who is at least 18 years old and legally permitted to possess a handgun the same authority to carry a concealed handgun as a permit holder, without requiring a permit. Keeps permits available for use in other states that recognize Colorado permits, lowers the minimum permit age to 18, and lowers the recognition age for out-of-state permits from 21 to 18. Makes permits valid for the life of the holder, converts existing permits to lifetime permits, and repeals permit renewal provisions along with the temporary emergency permit. Repeals local authority to regulate open or concealed carry, including the authority of special districts and higher education governing boards.

Codifies an individual's right to own, possess, and use a firearm. Frames that right as extending to the maximum extent permissible under the state and federal constitutions. Repeals both temporary extreme risk protection orders and standard extreme risk protection orders.

Repeals a broad range of state firearm and weapons laws, including restrictions on carrying firearms at polling places, drop boxes, government buildings, child care centers, and schools, along with the offense of unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon. Repeals the firearm industry responsible-conduct standards enacted in 2023 and restores the product liability rules that existed before them, and also repeals the 3-day waiting period, the minimum purchase age of 21, private-transfer background checks, storage requirements, unserialized firearm provisions, ammunition sales regulation, magazine prohibitions and marking rules, the state dealer permit system, and gun show regulations. Eliminates the office of gun violence prevention and the safe storage education campaign, and revokes local governments' authority to regulate the sale, purchase, transfer, or possession of firearms, ammunition, or firearm components. Directs the state treasurer to refund fees paid into the repealed firearms training cash fund and to return gifts and donations that funded the repealed voluntary purchase-waiver program.

Requires volunteer lobbyists to register and file a statement attesting they are uncompensated, and exempts them from registration fees. Lets the judicial department designate judicial lobbyists, and requires legislative liaisons, judicial lobbyists, and governor's lobbyists to register annually with the secretary of state and file monthly disclosure statements identifying the bills they lobby on and their positions, with position changes due within 72 hours. Prohibits statewide elected officials and members of the general assembly from serving as a legislative liaison or governor's lobbyist for two years after leaving office. Appropriates $91,000 from the department of state cash fund to the department of state.

Establishes the Surveillance Accountability and Freedom Ensured Act, under which a law enforcement agency may use surveillance technology only for lawful purposes directly related to public safety or for an active investigation. Restricts specific technologies: facial recognition requires a warrant or an exigent imminent threat to public safety, traffic cameras and license plate readers are limited to public spaces and specific enforcement purposes, and drone cameras must follow federal aviation regulations. Limits how long collected data may be stored by technology type, prohibits selling surveillance data, allows sharing with another agency only for an active investigation, and requires permanent destruction of data at the end of the retention period. Creates civil penalties, entitles residents to request compliance information at no cost, and requires the attorney general to audit agencies every two years and to bring civil enforcement actions.

Defines a specified semiautomatic firearm as a semiautomatic rifle or shotgun with a detachable magazine, or a gas-operated semiautomatic handgun with a detachable magazine, and excludes certain firearms and models from the definition. Prohibits knowingly manufacturing, distributing, transferring, selling, or purchasing such a firearm on or after August 1, 2026, while allowing transfers to residents of other states or to federally licensed dealers. Exempts transactions involving law enforcement, corrections, armored vehicle businesses, military forces, gunsmiths, educational programs, museums and historical societies, transfers by operation of law or upon death, film props, and purchasers who have completed hunter education plus qualifying firearm safety courses. Makes violations a class 2 misdemeanor, rising to a class 6 felony for a second or subsequent offense.

Under existing law, a person may not possess a firearm after conviction or adjudication for certain felonies. Adds motor vehicle theft in the first degree to the list of offenses that trigger the possession prohibition. Allows a person to petition a court for an order restoring the right to possess, use, or carry a firearm once 10 years have passed since the final disposition of the proceedings or release from supervision for that offense.

Establishes a process for a person to voluntarily waive the right to purchase a firearm, and requires the Colorado bureau of investigation to deny transfers to that person while the waiver is in effect. Directs the bureau to build an online portal for filing, updating, and revoking waivers, to verify the filer's identity, and to enter waivers into the national instant criminal background check system and other purchaser-screening systems. A waiver can be revoked through the portal but stays in effect for 30 days after the revocation is accepted, and the filer may designate a contact to be notified of purchase attempts or revocations. Attempting to buy a firearm while under a waiver is a civil infraction with a $25 maximum fine, and the whole process is contingent on the department receiving $200,000 in gifts, grants, or donations to build and run the portal.

Creates a behavioral and mental health excise tax cash fund to hold revenue from the firearm and ammunition excise tax approved by Proposition KK for behavioral health purposes. Redirects the $8 million that current law moves from that tax into the older behavioral and mental health cash fund into the new fund instead. Requires the state treasurer to transfer the Proposition KK money already sitting in the old fund into the new fund. Advances the fund's repeal date from July 1, 2032 to July 1, 2027.

Creates state procurement practices for firearms and items regulated under the federal National Firearms Act. Applies the practices to any contract the state sources, enters into, awards, amends, renews, or extends on or after January 1, 2026 for procuring those items. Requires contractors and bidders to comply with specified requirements, make disclosures, and provide documentation confirming they follow safe business practices during the contracting process, the sourcing process, or on request during a contract's term. Authorizes the attorney general to help the department of personnel implement the practices and allows the department to adopt rules.

Requires the division of criminal justice to establish an automated protection order notification system providing protected persons, their immediate family, and other registered users with information about criminal and civil protection orders. The system must deliver information in English and Spanish by telephone, email, text message, or mobile application, and the division may contract with a third party to provide the functionality. Public entities are immune from liability for releasing or failing to release information through the system. The division cannot launch the system until it receives enough money from gifts, grants, donations, including federal funds, or the Colorado crime victim services fund to operate it for at least a year.

Prohibits any individual from intimidating, threatening, or coercing, or attempting to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, a person for voting or attempting to vote, for urging or aiding someone to vote, for exercising election administration duties such as counting, canvassing, or certification, or for their past or present role in administering elections. Creates a presumption that a person carrying a visible firearm, imitation firearm, or toy firearm while interacting with or observing those activities is engaging in prohibited intimidation, rebuttable by a preponderance of the evidence, with carve-outs for law enforcement officers and uniformed security guards acting within their authority. Allows enforcement by an aggrieved individual, election officials, the secretary of state, or the attorney general, and permits contemporaneous private suits alongside government actions. Authorizes courts to enjoin a defendant's use or carrying of firearms beyond the existing prohibitions near polling locations, drop boxes, and certain government buildings.

Requires the office of gun violence prevention to post its prevention materials in an accessible format on its website so school districts, boards of cooperative services, charter schools, and the Colorado school for the deaf and the blind can distribute them. Requires each local education provider to give the materials to parents, guardians, and legal custodians of students in writing or electronically at the start of every school year and to post the materials or a link on its website. Beginning in January 2026, the department of public health and environment must include information about the materials in its annual SMART Act hearing presentation.

Expands the peace officer authority of the auto industry investigator and the auto industry division director in the department of revenue from limited investigative functions to enforcement of all state laws, and requires both to be certified by the peace officer standards and training board. Extends that full peace officer status and certification requirement to agents in charge, criminal investigator supervisors, and criminal investigators in the auto industry division. Designates the director and deputy directors of the new firearms dealer division as peace officers who may be certified. Makes the firearms dealer division's agents in charge, criminal investigator supervisors, and criminal investigators peace officers who must obtain that certification.

Establishes a procedure letting a federal firearms licensee request a serial number check before purchasing a firearm from an individual, with the local police department or county sheriff's office required to complete the check within 3 days. The check must cover whether the firearm is stolen, lost, or involved in an open criminal investigation, and licensees inside city limits go to the police department while those in unincorporated areas go to the sheriff. Allows agencies to charge a reasonable fee and permits licensees to run the search themselves if the federal government grants them access to its firearm tracing program, subject to the same reporting duties. Imposes a penalty on licensees who fail to report to law enforcement when they know or should know that a person sold, or attempted to sell, a firearm that is stolen, lost, or under investigation.

Expands the veterans mental health services program to award grants to local nonprofit organizations that establish or expand community behavioral health programs. The programs serve service members, veterans, and family members of service members and veterans. Reduces the appropriation for veterans mental health services in the long appropriations bill by $5 million, except where that line item is already smaller than $5 million or is absent entirely.

Requires the division of criminal justice in the department of public safety to apply for and accept federal and other available grant money. Directs that the money be used to improve the state's response to mass shootings. Grants under the act include funding to support services for victims of mass shootings.

Requires gun show promoters to prepare a security plan and submit it to every local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the show. Imposes promoter duties including liability insurance, monitored entrances and exits, video surveillance of the parking area and main entrance, barring minors under 18 unless accompanied by a parent, grandparent, or guardian, verifying that firearms leaving the show comply with the 3-day waiting period, and posting required notices. Makes violating any of these provisions unlawful gun show management, a class 2 misdemeanor that rises to a class 1 misdemeanor for repeat offenses and carries a 5-year ban on promoting shows. Requires vendors to be federally licensed dealers or state dealer permit holders who have completed the promoter's certification, with unlawful vendor participation punished the same way, while excluding collectors' shows limited to curios, relics, and antique firearms.

Requires retail ammunition to be accessible to customers only with vendor assistance and prohibits selling ammunition at retail to anyone under 21. Carves out exceptions for 18-to-20-year-olds buying in person at shooting ranges, military members and veterans, people with hunter education certification, protection-order holders, those born on or before January 28, 2007, on-duty peace officers, and rimfire ammunition. Makes a violation a civil infraction, with a second or subsequent violation a class 1 misdemeanor. Requires shippers to use delivery services that verify the recipient is at least 21, and requires deliverers to verify age, obtain signed acknowledgment of receipt, and follow federal labeling and packaging rules, unless the sender failed to notify them that the package contains ammunition.

Removes firearm theft from the sentencing structure that scales theft penalties to the value of the stolen item. Makes theft of a firearm a class 6 felony regardless of the firearm's value. Appropriates $324,225 from the general fund to the judicial department to implement the change.

Existing wildlife statutes commit the state to relying on hunting, trapping, and fishing as the primary methods for harvesting wildlife. Requires the parks and wildlife commission to instead use the best available wildlife and ecological science when adopting rules. Directs that those rules benefit wildlife, whole ecosystem health, and all Coloradans.

Creates an income tax credit equal to the purchase price of a firearm safety device, capped at $200, for eligible taxpayers who buy the device from a federally licensed dealer. Defines a firearm safety device as lockable storage for a firearm that opens only by key, combination, or similar means. Makes the credit available for income tax years 2027 and 2028, with any excess credit carried forward for up to 5 years. Limits the aggregate credits claimable in any income tax year to $5 million.

Creates a state board of private security services in the department of regulatory agencies to regulate private security individuals and businesses, with licenses for event and commercial security officers and registrations for employers required starting August 1, 2026. Allows only licensed commercial security officers to carry firearms or nonlethal weapons, and only after obtaining a board-issued weapon endorsement, while POST-certified law enforcement officers are exempt from both requirements. Sets qualification requirements including fingerprint-based criminal history checks for disqualifying offenses, completed training with a passed assessment, and minimum age, plus experience, liability insurance, and an employee-training policy for employer registrations. Lets the board issue provisional licenses allowing supervised work pending background check results, lets holders of substantially equivalent municipal licenses obtain state licenses without additional training, and authorizes the board to adopt rules, approve training, and issue and renew credentials.

Establishes requirements for social media companies and their platforms to protect users, including publishing policies with mandated contents for each platform and relocating an existing minor-engagement disclosure function enacted in 2024. Requires annual reports to the department of law on the published policies and their violations, plus annual public reports with data on how minor users used each platform, with commercially reasonable efforts to identify users' age categories. Compels a company notified of a user's alleged violation of its policies or of state law to decide within 48 hours whether the violation occurred and to remove the user within 24 hours of that determination. Requires platforms with at least one million monthly users to give Colorado law enforcement a streamlined contact process and, under specified conditions, to comply with search warrants within 72 hours, and makes violations unfair or deceptive trade practices.

Replaces the existing public nuisance abatement statutes with a new criminal forfeiture framework. Permits forfeiture only when a defendant is convicted of unlawfully distributing, manufacturing, dispensing, or selling a controlled substance. Treats forfeiture as part of the defendant's criminal proceeding rather than a separate civil action. Specifies when personal property may be seized with or without process, sets duties and court procedures for seized property, allows disposition of assets and proceeds consistent with prior law, and limits seizures involving the federal government.

Grants a person who is at least 18 years old and legally permitted to possess a handgun the same authority to carry a concealed handgun as a permit holder, without needing a permit. Keeps permits available for use in other states that recognize Colorado permits, sets the minimum permit age at 18, and lowers the recognition age for out-of-state permits from 21 to 18. Makes permits valid for the holder's lifetime, converts existing permits to lifetime permits, and repeals permit renewals along with the temporary emergency permit. Repeals local authority to regulate open or concealed carry, including the authority of special districts and higher education governing boards.

Repeals the firearms dealer requirements enacted in 2024, beginning with the state dealer permit needed to engage in the business of dealing firearms and the department of revenue's on-site inspections of permit holders. Eliminates the requirement that dealers secure firearms away from public access. Strikes the mandates to report suspected straw purchases and employee firearm thefts to law enforcement and the prohibitions on selling outside posted business hours or to persons under the influence. Also repeals annual training for dealers and firearm-handling employees, along with employee minimum qualifications and background checks.

Makes an owner or person in control of property liable for damages when a person is harmed on the property in a way that person could have prevented had their arm of self-defense not been barred. Applies this liability rule to property that prohibits visitors from bringing arms of self-defense onto the premises. Waives sovereign immunity so that the same liability applies to public entities that own or control such property.

Creates a new nonprofit lobbyist category, exempt from the registration and monthly disclosure requirements that apply to professional lobbyists, for lobbyists exclusively employed by a single nonprofit who lobby as an incidental part of their duties. Caps nonprofit lobbying at 30 days per state fiscal year, with no more than 20 of those days while the general assembly is in session. Requires the nonprofit entity to report to the secretary of state within 72 hours of lobbying, covering the lobbyist's name, the entity's legal name, the date, the matters lobbied, and the bill numbers involved along with the entity's position on them. Terminates the exemption for lobbyists or entities that stop meeting the qualification or timing limits.

Prohibits knowingly carrying a firearm, openly or concealed, in state legislative buildings, local government buildings, and courthouses, including their adjacent parking areas, making violations a class 1 misdemeanor. Exempts law enforcement officers, members of the armed forces and Colorado National Guard, security personnel, participants in lawful legal proceedings, and concealed handgun permit holders carrying in adjacent parking areas. Allows a local government to enact a law permitting carry in its own government buildings. Also prohibits knowingly carrying a firearm, openly or concealed, on the property of licensed child care centers other than family child care homes, public and private K-12 schools, and institutions of higher education, subject to exceptions.

Tightens the training requirement for a concealed handgun permit: beginning July 1, 2025, a training class counts toward demonstrating competence only if it meets minimum standards and was completed within one year before the application, replacing the prior 10-year window. Allows a current peace officer certification to demonstrate competence instead. Defines an initial concealed handgun training class as an in-person law enforcement firearms safety course or a course taught by an instructor verified by a county sheriff, covering safe handling of firearms and ammunition, safe storage and child safety, shooting fundamentals, the laws governing purchase, ownership, transportation, use, and possession, the use of deadly force in self-defense, interacting with responding law enforcement, and avoiding and managing violent confrontations. Requires students to pass both a written competency exam and a live-fire exercise.

Requires payment networks that facilitate transactions to make the merchant category code for firearms and ammunition available to the merchant acquirers that process transactions for firearms merchants. Requires processors to assign that code to every firearms merchant they serve. Gives the attorney general's office exclusive enforcement authority, with a written notice of an alleged violation and a 30-day window to cure it under standards set by the act. If uncured, the attorney general may sue for a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation or for injunctive relief, with attorney fees and costs available to a prevailing plaintiff.

Authorizes the Colorado bureau of investigation to investigate particular illegal activity involving firearms anywhere in the state. Requires the bureau to communicate with the appropriate local law enforcement agency before taking investigative or enforcement action, to deconflict operations and assign responsibilities, and to collaborate with the local district attorney in the early stages. Requires bureau agents and employees who are peace officers to wear and activate body-worn cameras during any public-facing part of those investigations. Appropriates $1,477,127 from the general fund to the department of public safety for the investigations.

Prohibits knowingly leaving a handgun in an unattended vehicle unless it is stored in a locked hard-sided container out of plain view inside a locked vehicle, its locked trunk, or a locked recreational vehicle. Allows non-handgun firearms to be kept in a locked soft-sided container under the same conditions, provided a locking device is installed on the firearm itself, and gives persons with disabilities an exception to the hard-container rule. Exempts antique firearms, non-handguns in vehicles used for farm or ranch operations, persons living in the vehicle, peace officers and active armed forces members, and activities tied to lawful hunting. Makes unsafe storage of a firearm in a vehicle a civil infraction.

Refers a ballot issue to voters at the November 2024 general election for a 6.5% excise tax on the net taxable retail sales of firearms, firearm precursor parts, and ammunition by dealers, manufacturers, and vendors. Dedicates the revenue, estimated at $39 million in the first fiscal year, to mental health services including for veterans and at-risk youth, school safety and gun violence prevention, and support services for victims of domestic violence and other violent crimes. Requires every vendor to file returns and remit the tax monthly beginning April 1, 2025, while excusing vendors whose annual retail sales of covered items do not exceed $20,000 until they cross that threshold. Exempts sales to peace officers, law enforcement agencies, and active duty military personnel from the tax.

Requires firearms dealers, beginning July 1, 2025, to hold a state firearms dealer permit to engage in the business of dealing firearms other than destructive devices, with unpermitted dealing an unclassified felony carrying a fine of up to $250,000. Conditions permit issuance on holding a federal firearms license, having no firearm or ammunition license revoked, suspended, or denied in the prior 3 years, and no violations of firearm laws in the 3 years before applying. Sets a $400 issuance fee, adjustable annually, with permits valid for 3 years. Requires the department of revenue to inspect a random 10% of permit holders on-site each year, permits unannounced inspections, and lists grounds for revoking a permit, including losing the federal license, refusing a required inspection, or specified conviction offenses.

Defines the term assault weapon and prohibits manufacturing, importing, purchasing, selling, offering to sell, or transferring ownership of one. Prohibits possession of a rapid-fire trigger activator. Sets a $250,000 penalty for a first violation and $500,000 for each subsequent violation. Allows sales or transfers only to an heir by bequest or intestate succession or to a licensed dealer who renders the weapon inoperable within 90 days, imposes a $750 civil penalty for unpermitted private sales on or after July 1, 2025, and requires permitted sellers and Colorado manufacturers to be reported to the department of revenue.

Requires firearm owners to maintain liability insurance covering losses or damages to persons other than the policyholder who are injured on the insured property by an accidental or unintentional discharge. Makes failure to maintain the coverage a civil infraction, with a $500 minimum fine for a first offense, half of which can be suspended upon obtaining coverage, and a $1,000 minimum fine for a second offense within 5 years. Provides an affirmative defense, and a court petition process, for persons denied coverage by two or more insurers or unable to afford it, where the person is likely to store, carry, and use firearms prudently and safely and has a gun safe or other secure container. Requires insurers to offer qualifying coverage within homeowners and renters insurance policies.

Lets a school district, charter school, or board of cooperative services employ or contract a school security officer only when it has a policy governing officers' engagement with students and the person has completed school security or school resource officer training and undergone a background check and psychological evaluation. Permits a school security officer to carry a handgun on school property only if the officer holds a valid concealed handgun permit, completes firearms training including ongoing in-service training, and passes the peace officer standards and training board's firearms skills test or an equivalent. Repeals the prior exception allowing school employees to carry deadly weapons while performing duties and instead expressly authorizes these officers to carry. Prohibits a school or law enforcement agency from storing firearms on the grounds of an elementary, middle, junior high, or high school.

Applies to the United States Congress for a convention of the states under Article V of the federal constitution. Restricts the convention's agenda to proposing amendments that impose fiscal restraints on the federal government and limit its power and jurisdiction. Also limits the agenda to amendments setting term limits on federal officials and members of Congress.

Bars entry of a forfeiture order unless the civil complaint is filed within 90 days of the seizure and the plaintiff proves the property is an instrumentality of, or proceeds directly from, the crime for which the owner was convicted. Stays forfeiture proceedings until a criminal conviction is obtained, except in specified cases, and directs that, when feasible, the court hearing the criminal case also hears the forfeiture action. Gives any interested party the right to a prompt post-seizure hearing within 14 days, allows indigent property owners appointed counsel, and routes 25% of forfeiture proceeds to a new forfeiture defense fund rather than the law enforcement community services grant program fund. Prohibits Colorado agencies from transferring seized property to federal authorities for forfeiture unless part of a joint task force and the property includes at least $50,000 in currency.

Expands county boards' authority to designate unincorporated areas where discharging firearms is unlawful. Repeals the exception that shielded private property from such designations and replaces the minimum population density threshold of 100 persons per square mile with a requirement of 35 or more dwellings per square mile. Continues to bar boards from prohibiting discharge by a peace officer, in an indoor shooting gallery inside a private residence, at a shooting range, for wildlife management, or during lawful hunting or livestock management. Repeals the existing exemption of designated areas from state liability rules for wild animal property damage.

Raises the minimum age to legally purchase a firearm from 18 to 21 years old. Makes it a class 2 misdemeanor for a person under 21 to knowingly purchase a firearm and makes it unlawful for licensed or unlicensed dealers to facilitate such a sale. Exempts active members of the United States armed forces and peace officers or persons certified by the peace officer standards and training board.

Repeals and reenacts the statutory article governing extreme risk protection orders. Expands the list of parties who may petition for an order beyond family or household members and law enforcement to include licensed medical care providers, licensed mental health-care providers, licensed educators, and district attorneys. Requires the office of gun violence prevention to spend funds annually on a public education campaign about the availability of and process for requesting such orders. Appropriates $140,462 to the judicial department and $238,846 to the department of public safety to implement the act.

Establishes a waiting period before a seller may deliver a purchased firearm, running to the later of 3 days after a required background check is initiated or the point when the purchase is approved following any background check. Makes delivery before the waiting period expires a civil infraction, with a $500 fine for a first offense and $500 to $5,000 for a second or subsequent offense. Exempts antique firearms and curios or relics, sales by an armed forces member deploying outside the country within 30 days to a family member, and transfers for which state or federal law requires no background check.

Defines terms for firearm components, including frames and receivers and unfinished versions of each. Prohibits, on and after January 1, 2024, knowingly possessing or transporting an unfinished frame or receiver unless it bears the serial number required by federal law, bars selling, offering to sell, transferring, or purchasing unserialized unfinished frames or receivers, and prohibits possessing, purchasing, transporting, receiving, selling, or transferring firearms or frames and receivers lacking serial numbers. Restricts manufacture of frames and receivers to federally licensed firearm manufacturers, with exceptions including licensees and transfers done to serialize a component. Punishes violations as a class 1 misdemeanor, rising to a class 5 felony for a second or subsequent offense, and requires owners of previously self-manufactured unserialized firearms to have them serialized by a federal licensee.

Broadens the authority of county boards of commissioners to designate unincorporated areas where firing a gun is illegal. Eliminates the carve-out for private property and swaps the 100-persons-per-square-mile density threshold for a 35-dwellings-per-square-mile standard. Preserves protections for discharge by peace officers, indoor shooting galleries in private residences, shooting ranges, wildlife management, and lawful hunting or livestock work. Also removes designated areas' exemption from the state liability rules covering property damage by protected wild animals.

Defines the term assault weapon and prohibits a person from manufacturing, importing, purchasing, selling, offering to sell, or transferring ownership of one. Prohibits possession of a rapid-fire trigger activator. Makes violations a class 2 misdemeanor. Exempts armed forces members, peace officers, and other government agents acting within their duties, manufacturers selling to the armed forces or peace-officer employers, dealer and gunsmith repairs returned to lawful owners, securely housed museum collections, forensic laboratories, armored vehicle businesses, and licensed dealers disposing of pre-existing inventory only out of state to non-residents.

Eliminates nomination through the party assembly process as a route to the primary election ballot for both major and, via a later section, minor political party candidates, leaving petition signatures as the path. Changes the first day a major party candidate may circulate a petition to the day the secretary of state approves the petition as to form, and lifts the ban on unaffiliated voters signing major party candidate petitions. Aligns the signature requirements for minor party candidates with those for major party candidates. Also aligns the methods by which a minor party candidate may access the presidential primary ballot with those available to major party candidates.

Under existing law, a person may not possess a firearm after being convicted of or adjudicated for certain felonies. Adds aggravated motor vehicle theft to the list of disqualifying convictions. A conviction or adjudication for that offense therefore triggers the firearm possession prohibition.

Requires reports on property seizures and forfeitures to include the estimated value and equity of the seized property. Requires those reports to also state the outcome of the forfeiture proceeding. Appropriates $22,549 to the department of local affairs, reappropriated to the office of the governor for the office of information technology, and includes 0.2 FTE.

Declares that federal laws imposing a tax, levy, fee, or stamp not common to other goods on firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition, any registration or tracking of those items or their ownership, prohibitions on their possession or transfer by law-abiding citizens, or orders confiscating them from law-abiding citizens are infringements on the right to bear arms in Colorado. Prohibits any entity or person from enforcing or attempting to enforce any such federal law. Makes the state or a political subdivision that enforces or attempts to enforce one liable to the injured party, with a civil penalty of up to $50,000 per occurrence. Also prohibits employing a person who, acting as a federal agent, knowingly enforced or materially aided enforcement of such a law, subject to a civil penalty of up to $50,000 per employee.

Extends the existing right to use deadly physical force against a person who has made an illegal entry, under certain conditions, beyond its prior scope. Extends that right to owners, managers, and employees of a business confronted with an unlawful intruder. Also extends it to any person in lawful possession of a firearm at a place of business.

Raises the penalty for practicing a listed profession, such as medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, engineering, or architecture, from a class 2 misdemeanor to a class 6 felony when the person intentionally lacks the license, registration, or certification and fraudulently claims to hold one. Restates the purposes of probation, including moderating and deterring future criminal behavior, supporting behavior change through individualized services, holding people accountable with supervision and restitution, serving as a cost-effective community option, and honoring victims' rights. Requires a probation officer to issue a summons when a probationer allegedly violates a condition of probation or revocation is sought, subject to exceptions.

Prohibits openly carrying a firearm inside any polling location or central count facility, or within 100 feet of a ballot drop box or a building housing those sites, while an election or related election administration activity is in progress. Requires the designated election official to post visible signs notifying the public of the 100-foot no-open-carry zone. Exempts owners carrying on their own private property inside the buffer, peace officers acting within their duties, and uniformed contract security guards performing an applicable security agreement. Makes a violation a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and 364 days in county jail, with a first offense capped at a $250 fine and 120 days.

Prohibits shooting, wounding, killing, or trapping a bobcat, Canada lynx, or mountain lion. Allows those actions only within a defined set of circumstances, including when immediately necessary to protect a person from bodily harm, by peace officers or licensed veterinarians in their duties, by health departments protecting human safety, under scientific collecting, wildlife sanctuary, or zoological licenses, when expressly authorized by federal law, or by the wildlife division for protecting threatened or endangered species or for nonlethal relocation. Requires anyone who takes one of these animals to prevent bodily harm to notify the division within 24 hours. Bars removing, retaining, or transferring any part of the animal afterward without division authorization.

The Colorado constitution requires every bill under consideration to be read at length on two different days in each chamber, though any reading at length may be dispensed with by unanimous consent of the legislators present. Refers a constitutional amendment to the 2022 general election ballot eliminating the two-day read-at-length requirement in each chamber. Upon approval by a majority of voters, the requirement is removed from the constitution.

The Colorado constitution currently requires petitions for citizen-initiated constitutional amendments to be signed by at least 2% of the registered electors in each state senate district. A constitutional amendment extending that signature requirement to citizen-initiated statutory changes was referred to voters at the 2022 general election. If voters approved that amendment, the bill makes the conforming change to statute extending the requirement to statutory initiative petitions.

Recreates the school security disbursement program, which was repealed in 2021, within the department of public safety to fund security improvements that prevent incidents of school violence. Makes school districts, charter schools, boards of cooperative services, and eligible nonprofit organizations eligible to apply for disbursements. Allows recipients to spend the money on security-related capital construction, student threat assessment training, law enforcement training on student interactions, emergency response training, student resilience programs, and school safety incident response curricula, training, and best practices. Requires the department to review applications and disburse funds from the program's cash fund, subject to available appropriations.

Grants a person who is at least 21 years old and legally permitted to possess a handgun the same concealed carry authority as a permit holder, without requiring a permit. Keeps permits available for carry in other states that recognize Colorado permits. Makes permits valid for the holder's lifetime, converts existing permits to lifetime permits, and repeals permit renewals along with the temporary emergency permit. Repeals local authority to regulate open or concealed carry, including that of special districts and higher education governing boards.

Current law, with certain exceptions, bars concealed handgun permit holders from carrying on public elementary, middle, junior high, or high school grounds. Removes that limitation. Prohibits a local government from barring a valid permit holder from carrying a concealed handgun on school grounds.

Extends the existing right to use deadly physical force against an unlawful intruder, under certain conditions, to a new set of actors. Covers owners of a business confronted with an illegal entry. Also covers managers and employees of the business.

Existing law makes it unlawful to sell, transfer, or possess large-capacity ammunition magazines, subject to exceptions. Adds an exception allowing a person to possess one for the purpose of participating in a shooting competition. Limits the exception to competitions sanctioned by, under the auspices of, or in coordination with a state agency.

Lets local education providers offer a hunter education course to seventh graders by contracting with an entity certified by the division of parks and wildlife. Requires the course to satisfy division certification standards, though hands-on activities are optional, and to be taught by a division-certified instructor. Requires parent or guardian permission for any hands-on activities and allows only inert firearms and dummy rounds on school grounds. Allows the parks and wildlife commission to count course completion toward a hunter education certificate, and permits the course as an elective in other grades.

Requires firearms to be responsibly and securely stored when not in use, to prevent access by unsupervised juveniles and other unauthorized users. Creates the class 2 misdemeanor of unlawful storage when a person fails to do so and knows or should know that a juvenile could access the firearm without permission or that an ineligible resident could reach it. Requires licensed dealers to provide a locking device with every firearm sale or transfer, with a violation punishable by up to a $500 fine. Requires annual reporting to the general assembly on storage-related charges and public education about the requirements through the office of suicide prevention.

Requires an individual firearm owner to report a lost or stolen firearm to law enforcement within 5 days of discovering it missing. Makes a first failure a civil infraction with a $25 fine and a second or subsequent failure a misdemeanor with up to a $500 fine. Exempts licensed gun dealers from the reporting requirement and lets a family member or co-resident report instead, without that report constituting an acknowledgment of ownership. Grants reporters immunity from storage-related prosecution and requires receiving agencies to enter the firearm's information into the Colorado bureau of investigation crime information center database.

Changes the procedures a person must follow with their firearms after a protection order involving an act or threatened act of domestic violence is issued. Requires an affidavit filed within 7 business days stating the number of firearms, each one's make and model, any reason the person still holds them, and their location, or stating nonpossession. Requires the court to hold a compliance hearing 8 to 12 business days after the order issues to confirm the affidavit was completed. Bars use of the compelled information against the person in a criminal case except for perjury, excludes weekends and legal holidays from the relinquishment window, and lets a court grant a limited additional period to relinquish a firearm.

Declares that regulation of firearms is a matter of both state and local concern. Authorizes local governments to enact ordinances or laws governing or prohibiting the sale, purchase, transfer, or possession of firearms, ammunition, or firearm components and accessories, provided they are no less restrictive than state law. Lets local governments, special districts, and higher education governing boards prohibit concealed carry by permittees in buildings or specific areas under their control, with violations carrying civil penalties capped at $50 for a first offense. Permits criminal penalties under local laws only against persons who knew or reasonably should have known their conduct was prohibited.

Requires licensed gun dealers to obtain approval from the Colorado bureau of investigation before transferring a firearm, rather than transferring after a waiting period. Prohibits the bureau from approving transfers to persons convicted of specified misdemeanor offenses, or until its background investigation is complete and the transfer would violate no federal possession prohibition or state law. Allows denial where criminal proceedings lack a final disposition for offenses that would prohibit possession upon conviction, and permits continued denial when the bureau cannot obtain a final disposition for a case no longer pending. Establishes an appeal process for denied transferees, with a 60-day deadline for the bureau to review the denial and issue a final administrative decision.

Establishes an office of gun violence prevention within the department of public health and environment to coordinate and promote efforts to reduce gun violence. Requires the office to run public awareness campaigns about state and federal laws and existing prevention resources. Authorizes, subject to available money, a grant program for community-based violence intervention initiatives that interrupt cycles of gun violence, trauma, and retaliation using evidence-informed approaches that do not contribute to mass incarceration. Directs the office to maintain a resource bank of gun violence data and research, collaborate with researchers, and report to the general assembly every 5 years on local prevention measures, with a $3 million appropriation.

Beginning in 2023, allows a municipality to refer an election using instant runoff voting to be conducted as part of a coordinated election. Requires the secretary of state to promulgate minimum voting system requirements and specifications for instant runoff elections by the end of 2022, after which tested systems can be submitted for certification. Directs the secretary of state to negotiate a single annual statewide license for a certified system, with each using county paying its proportional share of the cost. Lets a statutory or home rule city in a single county that has formally adopted instant runoff voting refer its election for coordinated conduct by written notice to the county clerk, where the county's system is certified.

Amends the Colorado Open Meetings Law to hinge its application on the exchange of electronic mail among elected officials, rather than the mere use of it, when discussing pending legislation or other public business. Clarifies that email not relating to the merits or substance of public business is not a meeting under the law, covering scheduling and availability messages, forwarded information, responses to inquiries from outside the public body, and questions posed for later discussion. Defines merits or substance to mean any discussion, debate, or exchange of ideas about the essence of a public policy proposition or matter under consideration.

Creates a new retaliation crime covering elected officials, paralleling the existing crime of retaliation against a judge. Covers a person who knowingly makes a credible threat in retaliation or retribution toward an elected official or the official's family, or arising from the person's status as an elected official. Makes the crime a class 6 felony. Appropriates sums from the general fund to the department of corrections across fiscal years 2022-23 through 2025-26 to meet the 5-year corrections appropriation requirement, plus a capital construction fund transfer.

Allows the attorney general to disclose Safe2Tell program materials to law enforcement when reasonably necessary to prevent imminent physical harm or serious bodily injury. Permits a court, after an in camera review and on a showing of probable cause that a reporter knowingly misused the program to falsely report an emergency, to order production of the reporting party's identity under seal. Limits lifting the seal to a district attorney's motion showing good cause after further in camera review, and provides that the seal automatically expires if charges relying on that information are filed. Requires the program's awareness and educational materials to explain the circumstances in which a student's report may not remain anonymous.

Through the end of 2021, allows members of a party central or vacancy committee to participate in meetings remotely, including voting by mail, telephone, email, or an internet-based application, where party rules permit. Lets a state senate, state house, or county commissioner district committee hold a separate meeting for organizational or administrative matters, with remote participation allowed upon approval of the committee's chair and vice-chair. Permits state central and executive committees to adopt rules or bylaws implementing the remote participation provisions, and allows members to participate remotely in the meetings where those rules are considered.

Creates a civil cause of action for a person injured by being unable to use a firearm in self-defense or defense of family because of a temporary or ongoing extreme risk protection order. Allows the suit to be brought against any person who drafted, proposed, promoted, or provided support, financial or otherwise, to pass, implement, or enforce the 2019 law creating extreme risk protection orders. Entitles a successful plaintiff to attorney fees and compensatory damages or liquidated damages.

Current law, with certain exceptions, prohibits a concealed handgun permit holder from carrying on public school grounds. Removes that prohibition for elementary, middle, junior high, and high school grounds. Leaves the existing exceptions to the school-grounds carry prohibition intact.

Repeals the statutory prohibition on selling, transferring, or possessing large-capacity ammunition magazines. Also repeals the requirement that large-capacity magazines manufactured in Colorado on or after July 1, 2013 carry a permanent stamp or marking showing that manufacture date. Eliminates both provisions from state law.

Repeals the governor's disaster-emergency authority to suspend or limit the sale, dispensing, or transportation of firearms, explosives, and combustibles. Clarifies that the governor may not suspend or limit the sale of firearms ammunition during a disaster emergency. Also repeals the prohibition on completing a handgun training class over the internet or away from the certified instructor's physical course location.

Creates the class 2 misdemeanor of unlawful storage of a firearm when a person stores a gun in a way they know or should know lets a juvenile access it without a parent's or guardian's permission or lets an ineligible resident reach it. Requires licensed dealers to provide a locking device with every firearm sale or transfer, with violations punishable by up to a $500 fine. Requires the state court administrator to report annually to the general assembly on storage-related charges and their dispositions. Directs the department of public health and environment to run a firearms storage education campaign funded by a new treasury fund, which receives a voluntary donation line on state income tax returns for five years.

Repeals the statutory prohibition on possessing certain ammunition magazines. Also repeals the requirement that covered magazines manufactured in Colorado on or after July 1, 2013 bear a permanent stamp or marking showing they were made or assembled after that date. Strikes both provisions from state law.

Existing law criminalizes retaliating against a judge through a credible threat or an act of harassment, harm, or injury, punishable as a class 4 felony. Extends that crime to cover elected officials and their families. The covered conduct includes credible threats and acts of harassment or harm committed in retaliation or retribution.

Requires a court to sentence an adult, or a juvenile prosecuted as an adult, convicted of possession of a weapon by a previous offender or unlawfully carrying a weapon on school grounds to the department of corrections for a term of incarceration. Requires consecutive sentences for a second or subsequent possession-by-a-previous-offender offense when the weapon is a dangerous weapon or the prior conviction was for burglary, arson, or a felony involving force or a deadly weapon. Removes discretion to impose alternatives to incarceration for those offenses.

Current law, with certain exceptions, bars concealed handgun permit holders from carrying on public elementary, middle, junior high, or high school grounds. Removes that limitation on permit holders' authority. Leaves the existing exceptions to the school-grounds prohibition in place.

Repeals the laws creating extreme risk protection orders. Changes the standard for an involuntary 72-hour mental health hold from imminent danger to self or others to extreme risk. Defines extreme risk as a credible and exigent threat of danger to the person or others through actionable threats of violence or death resulting from a current mental health state. Together the changes eliminate the court-ordered firearm relinquishment process and tighten the criteria for emergency holds.

Allows a person whose rights, privileges, or immunities under the Colorado constitution are infringed to bring a civil action for the violation, and gives the attorney general the same authority. Awards reasonable attorney fees to a prevailing plaintiff, and to a defendant who defeats frivolous claims. Bars qualified immunity and a good-faith but mistaken belief in the lawfulness of one's conduct as defenses. Sets a two-year statute of limitations and requires public entities to indemnify employees in such claims unless the employee is convicted of a related crime.

Requires a court, upon issuing a protection order, to have the person state in court or by affidavit the number of firearms in their immediate possession or control and their locations. Requires completion of a firearm information form covering the number, type, and location of each firearm, and requires the court to transmit the order and form to the sheriff of the person's county of residence. Prohibits use of full and truthful firearm statements against the person in any other civil or criminal proceedings. Excludes weekends and legal holidays from the relinquishment window and lets a court grant an additional 24 hours to comply where needed.

Requires an individual firearm owner to report a lost or stolen firearm to a law enforcement agency within 48 hours of discovering it missing. Makes a first failure a petty offense with a $25 fine and a second or subsequent failure a class 3 misdemeanor. Exempts licensed gun dealers from the reporting requirement. Requires agencies receiving reports to enter the firearm's information into the national crime information center database.

Extends the existing right to use deadly physical force against an intruder, under certain conditions, to additional actors. Covers owners of a business facing an illegal entry. Also covers the business's managers and employees.

Directs the school safety resource center to convene a working group of stakeholders to assess school districts' needs regarding residential mental health treatment for children and youth identified by school personnel as having severe behavioral or mental health disorders. Has the working group gather information on the availability, need, and cost of residential treatment services for children and youth in Colorado. Requires the center to use the data to prepare a report with legislative recommendations addressing those mental health needs. Requires presentation of the report and recommendations at its January 2021 committee-of-reference hearing under the SMART Government Act.

Creates the Colorado interagency working group on school safety, a 14-member body whose mission is enhancing school safety through cost-effective use of public resources. Assigns it to study and implement the September 2019 state auditor's school safety recommendations, consider program reorganization, identify shared effectiveness metrics, and improve interagency coordination and communication. Tasks it with increasing transparency and accessibility of state grants, including common applications and outreach for districts without grant writers, and with facilitating legally allowable data sharing. Lets the group contract for a consultant, funded by appropriations or gifts, though it meets only when the department of public safety identifies sufficient funding.

Directs each district school board to issue a request for proposals for a district-wide school safety assessment. Requires the district to contract a school safety expert to evaluate every public school in the district and report recommendations to the board, which must vote on each one. Requires the board to present approved recommendations to the state board of education, which votes on them and provides funding for the approved items. Requires the state board to report to the legislature's education committees on the recommendations it receives, approves, and funds.

Creates the law enforcement, public safety, and criminal justice information sharing grant program within the division of homeland security and emergency management to help local law enforcement agencies access the Colorado information sharing consortium's system. Allows grant money to pay for computer hardware, software, and programming needed to connect to those systems. Conditions grants on compliance with federal data security requirements and federal rules governing criminal justice information systems. Creates the program fund, repeals the program on July 1, 2022, and appropriates $500,000 from the marijuana tax cash fund for implementation.

Creates a process, beginning January 1, 2020, for a family or household member or a law enforcement officer to petition a court for a temporary extreme risk protection order. Requires the petitioner to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that a person poses a significant risk to self or others by having a firearm in their custody or control or by possessing, purchasing, or receiving one, supported by a sworn affidavit setting forth the supporting facts. Requires the court to hold the temporary hearing in person or by telephone on the day the petition is filed or the next court day, followed by a second hearing within 14 days to determine whether a continuing order is warranted. Provides for court-appointed counsel to represent the respondent at the hearings.

The state constitution defines electioneering communications as those referring unambiguously to a candidate within 30 days before a primary or 60 days before a general election. Expands the statutory definition for campaign finance disclosure to also capture qualifying communications disseminated between the primary and general elections. Requires any person spending $1,000 or more per calendar year on electioneering communications to state their name in the communication, following the existing requirements for independent expenditures.

Clarifies that a prior conviction for possessing or using marijuana lawfully under the Colorado constitution does not prohibit a person from carrying a firearm. Clarifies that lawful medical marijuana use does not make a person ineligible to possess firearms under federal law or an unlawful user of a controlled substance for concealed handgun permit purposes. Prohibits the department of public safety from sharing confidential medical marijuana registry information with law enforcement for firearm-transfer background checks. Leaves the existing prohibitions tied to other felony convictions intact.

Repeals the statutory prohibition on possessing certain ammunition magazines. Also strikes the requirement that covered magazines manufactured in Colorado on or after July 1, 2013 carry a permanent stamp or marking showing that manufacture date. Eliminates both provisions from the statute books.

Changes the fine amounts for violations of laws enforced by the division of parks and wildlife. Restructures how collected fines are distributed: when a parks and wildlife officer issues the citation, all of the fine now goes to the relevant division fund, rather than half to the general fund. When another Colorado peace officer issues the citation, half goes to the relevant division fund and half to the issuing local government or state agency. Applies these disposition changes across the affected fine provisions.

Current law, with exceptions, restricts concealed handgun permit holders by barring carry on public elementary, middle, junior high, or high school grounds. Removes that restriction. Keeps the existing exceptions to the school-grounds prohibition unchanged.

Extends the existing right to use deadly physical force against an unlawful intruder, under certain conditions, to additional actors. Adds owners of a place of business. Also adds the managers and employees of the business.

Expands the definition of dangerous weapon to include a multi-burst trigger activator, defined as a device attached to a semiautomatic firearm that lets it discharge two or more shots in a burst, or a manual or power-driven trigger-activating device that increases the firearm's rate of fire. Subjects possession of such a device to the existing dangerous-weapon penalties, a class 5 felony for a first offense and a class 4 felony for each subsequent one. Makes selling a multi-burst trigger activator to another person, or purchasing one from another person, a class 5 felony. Raises repeat purchase-and-sale violations to a class 4 felony.

Repeals the statutory prohibition on possessing certain ammunition magazines. Also repeals the requirement that covered magazines manufactured in Colorado on or after July 1, 2013 carry a permanent stamp or marking showing they were made or assembled after that date. Strikes both provisions from state law.

Allows a person who legally possesses a handgun under state and federal law to carry it concealed in Colorado without a permit. Gives a person carrying under that authority the same rights and the same limitations that apply to permit holders. Preserves the existing prohibitions on concealed carry in places such as public elementary, middle, junior high, and high school grounds, and reduces an appropriation.

Extends the existing right to use deadly physical force against an intruder, under certain conditions, to additional protected actors. Adds owners of a business. Also adds the managers and employees of the business.

Repeals the statutory provisions prohibiting possession of certain ammunition magazines. Also eliminates the requirement that covered magazines made in Colorado on or after July 1, 2013 be permanently stamped or marked to show that manufacture date. Removes both provisions from the statutes.

Current law, with exceptions, bars concealed handgun permit holders from carrying on public elementary, middle, junior high, or high school grounds. Removes that limitation on permit holders. Leaves the existing exceptions to the school-grounds prohibition untouched.

Extends the existing right to use deadly physical force against an unlawful intruder, under certain conditions, to more actors. Covers owners of a business. Also covers the managers and employees of the business.

Requires every state agency fee increase, beginning September 1, 2018, to take effect on July 1 of a year, with an exception for emergency increases. Bars an agency from raising a fee unless it submits a proposal with specified information to the joint budget committee by the preceding February 1, a majority of the committee approves it without alteration, and authorizing legislation granting the increase is enacted. Lets agencies adopt emergency fee increases outside that process. Requires an agency adopting an emergency increase to submit the proposal to the committee by the next February 1.

Authorizes capitol security personnel, including the Colorado state patrol, to let holders of a state capitol ID card enter the capitol, state services, and legislative services buildings without a search of their person or property or weapons screening. Directs the secretary of the senate or the chief clerk of the house to issue the credential to any applicant who pays a fee and completes a fingerprint-based criminal history record check. Issues each credential for a 2-year period. Sets the initial fee at $100, with the amount set to cover the actual costs of administering the program.

Implements the initial recommendations of the recodification study of title 12, which covers professions and occupations. Relocates the Colorado Parental Notification Act to a new part of title 13 and the firearms dealer laws to a new part of title 18. Moves the gun show background check laws to title 18 as well, along with the Uniform Unsworn Declarations Act to title 13. Makes conforming amendments and repeals the provisions at their former locations.

Designates a third type of second-degree burglary as a class 3 felony, joining the two circumstances already elevated above the class 4 baseline. Covers burglary whose objective is the theft of one or more firearms or ammunition. Authorizes a fine of at least $5,000 and up to $750,000 in addition to any other sentence upon conviction. Makes the required 5-year statutory appropriation.

Creates a process for a family or household member or a law enforcement officer to petition a court for a temporary extreme risk protection order. Requires the petitioner to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the person poses a significant risk to self or others by having a firearm in their custody or control or by acquiring one, backed by a sworn affidavit stating the supporting facts. Requires the temporary hearing in person or by telephone on the filing day or the next court day. Requires a second hearing within 7 days of the temporary order to decide whether a continuing order is warranted.

Allows a county sheriff to provide a handgun safety training course to employees of public elementary, middle, junior high, or high schools who hold concealed handgun permits. Requires the sheriff to consult with each school district board of education, and the state charter school institute where applicable, in setting the curriculum. Requires the curriculum to account for existing emergency response frameworks and to satisfy insurability standards for armed school employees.

Existing law requires a concealed handgun permit applicant to be at least 21 years old. Amends the age requirement to accept applicants who are 18 or older and on active duty in, or honorably discharged from, any branch or reserve branch of the United States military, including the National Guard. Leaves the 21-year minimum in place for all other applicants.

Repeals the statutory provisions barring possession of certain ammunition magazines. Also repeals the requirement that covered magazines manufactured in Colorado on or after July 1, 2013 bear a permanent stamp or marking of that manufacture date. Eliminates both provisions from state law.

Removes gravity knives and switchblade knives from the statutory definition of illegal weapon. Legalizes possession of those knives as a result. Leaves other categories of illegal weapons untouched.

Current law, with exceptions, restricts concealed handgun permit holders by prohibiting carry on public elementary, middle, junior high, or high school grounds. Removes that restriction. Keeps the existing exceptions to the school-grounds prohibition unchanged.

Extends the existing right to use deadly physical force against a person who makes an illegal entry, under certain conditions, to additional actors. Adds owners of businesses. Also adds managers and employees of businesses.

Repeals the statutory prohibition on possessing certain ammunition magazines. Also strikes the requirement that covered magazines manufactured in Colorado on or after July 1, 2013 include a permanent stamp or marking showing that date. Removes both provisions from the code.

Extends the existing right to use deadly physical force against an unlawful intruder, under certain conditions, to new actors. Adds owners of businesses. Also adds the managers and employees of businesses.

Repeals the statutory prohibition on possessing large-capacity ammunition magazines. Also repeals the requirement that large-capacity magazines made in Colorado on or after July 1, 2013 carry a permanent stamp or marking of that manufacture date. Strikes both provisions from state law.

Creates a new exemption to the offense of unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon. Applies the exemption when the person is on active duty serving in the armed forces of the United States military. Limits the exemption to cases where the weapon is a concealed handgun.

Current law, with exceptions, limits concealed handgun permit holders by barring carry on the grounds of public elementary, middle, junior high, and high schools. Removes that limitation for permit holders. Preserves the existing exceptions to the school-grounds prohibition.

Allows a law-abiding person to carry a concealed handgun without a permit. Preserves the current restrictions on carrying concealed handguns on certain property, including school grounds. Reduces an appropriation in connection with the change.

Repeals the state restrictions on large-capacity ammunition magazines. Eliminates the associated requirements imposed on such magazines under those provisions. Strikes the provisions from state law.

Opens concealed handgun permits to military personnel who are younger than 21. Applies to members of the military who would otherwise satisfy the permit criteria. Leaves the 21-year age requirement in place for non-military applicants.

Addresses the governor's authority over firearms during a state of disaster emergency. Removes the authority to restrict the distribution of firearms during such an emergency. Leaves other disaster-emergency powers unaffected.

Current law generally bars mental health professionals from disclosing confidential client communications without consent. Creates an exception when the client makes an articulable and significant threat against a school or its occupants. Also creates an exception when the client exhibits behavior that, in the professional's reasonable judgment, creates an articulable and significant threat to students, teachers, administrators, or other school personnel. Limits any such disclosure to appropriate school or district personnel and law enforcement agencies, with the information otherwise kept confidential.

Prohibits the sale, purchase, trade, or distribution of parts and products of covered animal species, with limited exceptions. Excludes guns, knives, and musical instruments from the prohibition. Establishes an unclassified misdemeanor for a first offense and an unclassified felony for second and subsequent offenses, each with monetary penalties. Authorizes Colorado wildlife officers and other commissioned officers of the wildlife division to enforce the provisions.

Applies to the United States Congress to call a convention under Article V of the federal constitution. Limits the convention's sole agenda to proposing an amendment setting term limits for Congress. The contemplated amendment would cap the number of terms a person may be elected to the United States House of Representatives and to the United States Senate.

Requires that a court may not enter a judgment of forfeiture of property unless an owner of the property has been convicted of the underlying offense, with limited exceptions such as a plea agreement, an owner who evades the court's jurisdiction, or a settlement agreed to by all parties. It gives the person whose property was seized the right to a pretrial hearing or a writ of replevin to challenge the validity of the seizure or to require return of the property, with the court granting relief when return is likely, the property is not needed for the investigation, or the property is the only means to pay for legal representation. The act also bars state law enforcement agencies from participating in a federal forfeiture action unless the seized property is worth more than fifty thousand dollars and requires that any federal forfeiture proceeds they receive be credited to the state general fund.

Allows a person who is at least twenty-one years old and who legally possesses a handgun under state and federal law to carry a concealed handgun in Colorado without a permit. The authority created is equal in all respects to that granted by a concealed handgun permit, so the carrier has the same rights and is subject to the same limitations, including the prohibition on carrying on the grounds of a public elementary, middle, junior high, or high school. The act also makes corresponding adjustments to state appropriations, reducing funding for the bureau's identification unit and the instant criminal background check cash fund, and it takes effect upon passage.

Repeals the requirement that a person who is not a licensed gun dealer must obtain a criminal background check of the transferee and the approval of the Colorado bureau of investigation before transferring possession of a firearm. It also repeals the bureau's fee for performing an instant criminal background check and the associated instant criminal background check cash fund. The act makes conforming changes to the civil protection order, protection order, and domestic violence sentencing statutes, and it adjusts state appropriations by shifting the cost of background checks from the cash fund to the general fund.

Deletes the state's prohibitions on the possession of large-capacity magazines and the requirement that large-capacity magazines manufactured in Colorado carry identification markings. The change removes part 3 of article 12 of title 18 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, the part of the code that imposed those magazine rules. The act also carries a safety clause finding it necessary for the immediate preservation of public peace, health, and safety.

Repeals the statutory provisions that prohibit the possession of large-capacity ammunition magazines and that require identification markings to be placed on large-capacity magazines manufactured in the state. The act deletes part 3 of article 12 of title 18 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, the part of the code that contained those magazine restrictions. It includes a safety clause declaring the act necessary for the immediate preservation of public peace, health, and safety.

Extends the right to use deadly physical force against an intruder beyond occupants of a dwelling to include owners, managers, and employees of a place of business. The force is justified when the person has made an unlawful entry and the owner, manager, or employee reasonably believes the intruder committed or intends to commit a crime and might use force, however slight, against anyone in the dwelling or business. A person acting under that authority is immune from criminal prosecution and from civil liability for injuries or death resulting from the force. The act also makes the defense-of-premises statute gender-neutral and permits deadly force to prevent an attempted first degree arson.

Repeals the requirement that a person who is not a licensed gun dealer must obtain a criminal background check of the transferee and the approval of the Colorado bureau of investigation before transferring possession of a firearm. It also repeals the bureau's fee for performing an instant criminal background check and the associated instant criminal background check cash fund. The act makes conforming changes to the civil protection order, protection order, and domestic violence sentencing statutes, replacing the prior receipt-and-background-check documentation with a single written receipt signed by both parties.

Requires the Colorado bureau of investigation to act within five days of a request for the certificate that federal law requires for transfers of machine guns, destructive devices, and certain other firearms. The bureau must either issue the certificate or deny it with a written explanation and an opportunity for the applicant to provide additional information. A denied applicant may seek judicial review, at which the bureau bears the burden of proving the applicant is ineligible by a preponderance of the evidence, and the court may award attorney fees to the prevailing party. When the bureau issues a certificate, it may not keep a record identifying the specific model or serial number of the firearm.

Provides that the owner or operator of a place of business open to the public is not liable for damages in a civil action alleged to have resulted from the business adopting a policy that allows a person holding a concealed handgun permit to carry on its premises. The immunity applies only to businesses that adopt such a policy and does not affect the liability of other businesses or diminish rights available to them under existing law. The act takes effect on the day following the expiration of the ninety-day period after the general assembly's final adjournment, subject to a possible referendum petition.

Allows a person holding a valid Colorado concealed handgun permit, issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2016, to satisfy the state and federal background check requirements for receiving a transferred firearm by presenting the permit and a valid government-issued identification card. The exemption applies whether the transferor is a gun show vendor or a licensed importer, manufacturer, or dealer. To make the permits verifiable, it requires the Colorado bureau of investigation to establish a uniform, tamper-resistant template that each sheriff must use when issuing permits on or after that date. It also adds citizenship and immigration details to the permit application so the application itself satisfies federal criminal background check requirements.

Allows a person who is at least twenty-one years old and who legally possesses a handgun under state and federal law to carry a concealed handgun in Colorado without a permit. The authority created is equal in all respects to that granted by a concealed handgun permit, so a person carrying under it has the same rights and is subject to the same limitations, including the prohibition on carrying on the grounds of a public elementary, middle, junior high, or high school. The act takes effect upon passage and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.

Removes the statutory prohibition that barred a person holding a valid concealed handgun permit from carrying a concealed handgun on the grounds of a public elementary, middle, junior high, or high school. Under the act, carrying a handgun on school grounds with a valid permit or temporary emergency permit is no longer an offense under the unlawful-carrying-on-school-grounds statute. The change applies to the real property of the school and any improvements erected on it, effectively treating school grounds like other public property for permit holders.

Clarifies that the ritual discharge of blank ammunition cartridges at a funeral for a deceased veteran of the armed forces of the United States does not constitute the criminal offense of disorderly conduct. The change adds that exception to the provision making it disorderly conduct to discharge a firearm in a public place, which already excludes lawful target practice and hunting. It therefore allows funeral attendees to fire blanks in honor of a fallen service member without risking a disorderly conduct charge.

Creates a state sales and use tax exemption for firearms, ammunition, and firearm accessories sold on the first Friday and Saturday of August in 2014, 2015, and 2016. The exemption applies only to sales by a vendor that elects to participate for a given year, and a participating vendor may not apply the exemption selectively to only some of its sales. Firearm accessories are defined to include replacement parts and attachments as well as items used to carry or store a firearm, such as stocks, scopes, grips, magazines, cases, and holsters. A town, city, or county may adopt an identical local sales tax exemption for the same periods.

Creates a court process that allows a person convicted of certain nonviolent felonies to petition for restoration of the right to possess and carry a firearm after a five-year waiting period following completion of the sentence. The sentencing court may issue a certificate of restoration if, by a preponderance of the evidence, the petitioner has a lawful occupation or source of income, has had no new convictions and no pending charges, has shown lawful and substantial reasons, and poses no unreasonable risk to public safety. Eligibility is limited to a specified list of nonviolent offenses, excluding arson, certain burglaries, and robbery, and a denied petitioner may not refile for at least one year. The district attorney must notify the victim of the petition.

Removes the governor's authority to suspend or limit the sale, dispensing, or transportation of firearms during a state of disaster emergency. The change strips firearms from the list of items the governor may restrict in an emergency, which continues to cover alcoholic beverages, explosives, and combustibles. The act takes effect on the day following the expiration of the ninety-day period after the general assembly's final adjournment, subject to a possible referendum petition.

Expands the existing exceptions to the private firearms transfer background check requirement so that they also cover transfers between step-relatives. The first exception, for a bona fide gift or loan between immediate family members such as spouses, parents, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, first cousins, aunts, and uncles, is broadened to include the step-relatives of those persons. The second exception, which covers a member of the armed forces who will be deployed outside the country within thirty days transferring to an immediate family member, is likewise extended to include a step-relative of that person.

Repeals the statute that required a person who is not a licensed gun dealer to obtain a criminal background check of the transferee and the approval of the Colorado bureau of investigation before transferring possession of a firearm. It also repeals the bureau's fee for performing an instant criminal background check and the associated instant criminal background check cash fund. The repealed statute had contained a broad list of transfer exceptions, including gifts between immediate family members, transfers by operation of law or at death, and temporary transfers at ranges, competitions, and during hunting.

Makes conforming corrections to the drug sentencing provisions adopted by a prior 2013 measure so that the statute's internal references and definitions line up with the new drug offense levels. It clarifies that the terms misdemeanor and petty offense include the corresponding drug offenses, that offenses may fall into one of six drug offense levels, and that level 1 or 2 drug felonies carry the same preliminary hearing and alternate juror rights as class 1, 2, or 3 felonies. It also corrects an internal cross-reference so that the vacatur of certain level 4 drug felony convictions applies to the offenses actually described in the code.

Permits a school district board of education and the governing board of a charter or institute charter school to adopt a written policy allowing an employee of the district or school to carry a concealed handgun within its buildings and on its grounds. Such a policy may apply only to an employee who holds a valid concealed handgun carry permit, and the board may add requirements, such as training, on top of the permit. The bill creates matching exceptions to the rule that otherwise prohibits carrying a concealed handgun on public school property, letting a permittee who is a district or charter-school employee carry in accordance with the board's adopted policy. Adoption of such a policy is discretionary, so each board decides whether to authorize employee carry on its own campuses.

Creates civil liability for a private business that bans firearms on its premises but does not provide proportionate armed security. A business becomes liable for damages in a suit brought by an invitee when it holds itself open to the public, prohibits the carrying of firearms—concealed or open—where that carrying would otherwise be lawful, and fails to staff at least one on-duty security officer armed with a firearm for every fifty people present. The invitee must also show that the resulting injuries stemmed from another person's actions that the invitee could have resisted with a firearm had the business not imposed the ban. The term private business entity is defined to include tax-exempt not-for-profit organizations that conduct retail sales or provide retail services to the public.

Revises the statutory definition of a deadly weapon so that the category of any other weapon, device, instrument, material, or substance that is capable of producing death or serious bodily injury is brought within the same definitional clause as firearms and knives. The change folds the separate bludgeon and catch-all subparts into a single provision covering any animate or inanimate object that, in the manner it is used or intended to be used, is capable of producing death or serious bodily injury. It does not add or remove any specific object from the definition but restructures how the definition is organized.

Extends the right to use deadly physical force against an intruder, which previously applied only to occupants of dwellings, so that owners, managers, and employees of a place of business may also use any degree of force, including deadly force, against a person who has made an unlawful entry into the business. The protection applies when the owner, manager, or employee reasonably believes the intruder committed or intends to commit a crime beyond the uninvited entry and might use any physical force, however slight, against a person on the premises. A person using force in accordance with these conditions is immune from criminal prosecution and from civil liability for injuries or death resulting from the force. The measure also updates the related defense-of-premises statute with gender-neutral language.

Narrows the crime of possession of a weapon by a previous offender, which under existing law applied to any prior felony conviction, so that it now reaches only specific categories of felonies. A person commits the offense if they knowingly possess, use, or carry a firearm or other covered weapon after a conviction for a felony defined in the victim's rights act, for burglary or arson, or for any felony involving the use of force or a deadly weapon, including attempt or conspiracy to commit such a felony. The same narrowed scope applies to juvenile adjudications for conduct that would be a felony if committed by an adult, and the required written statement given at sentencing is updated to reflect the changed list of offenses. The changes apply to offenses committed on or after July 1, 2013.

Allows a valid Colorado concealed handgun carry permit to stand in for the otherwise-required criminal background check when a firearm changes hands, so a transferee who presents the permit and a valid government-issued photo ID is exempt from the instant criminal background check. The exemption applies to transfers at gun shows and to licensed firearm dealers, who are relieved of the duty to contact the state point of contact or the national instant criminal background check system before the transfer. To make the permit a reliable substitute, the measure requires the bureau of investigation to issue a uniform, tamper-resistant permit template and to run a national background check on each applicant's fingerprints, and it adds citizenship and immigration questions to the permit application. The background-check exemption applies only to permits issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2014.

Prohibits state employees, agents, and agencies—including peace officers—from enforcing any federal law that touches a firearm, ammunition, magazine, or accessory manufactured in the United States and kept entirely within Colorado's borders. A federal statute, rule, or regulation taking effect on or after January 1, 2013 is likewise unenforceable in the state if it would ban or restrict ownership of a semi-automatic firearm or magazine, require registration of a firearm or accessory, or restrict purchases by Colorado residents or visiting out-of-state residents. The attorney general may defend a Colorado resident prosecuted by the federal government over such an item when it was made or bought in Colorado and never left the state. A federal employee or agent who enforces or attempts to enforce a covered law commits a class 1 misdemeanor.

Creates a permitless option for carrying a concealed handgun in Colorado by allowing a person who is at least twenty-one years old and legally possesses a handgun under state and federal law to carry it concealed without first obtaining a permit. The authority granted is equal in all respects to a concealed handgun carry permit, so the carrier has the same rights and is subject to the same limitations, including the prohibition on carrying a concealed handgun on the grounds of a public elementary, middle, junior high, or high school. The change is made to the unlawful-carrying statute and to the parallel statute covering school, college, and university grounds, so that qualifying possession is not treated as an offense. The provision applies to offenses committed on or after the act takes effect.

Authorizes a school district board of education and the governing board of a charter or institute charter school to adopt a written policy permitting an employee of the district or school to carry a concealed handgun within its buildings and on its grounds. The policy may only apply to an employee who holds a valid concealed handgun carry permit, and the governing board may impose additional conditions, such as completing training, beyond holding the permit. The bill adds corresponding exceptions to the statute that otherwise bars carrying a concealed handgun on public school property, so a permittee who is a district or charter-school employee may carry in line with the board-adopted policy. The authority is discretionary, leaving each board to decide whether and under what rules to allow such carry.

Declares that a federal statute, order, rule, or regulation taking effect on or after January 1, 2013 is unenforceable within Colorado if it would impose a prohibition, restriction, or limitation on the possession of a firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition that does not exist under state law, including capacity or size limits and registration requirements. A federal employee or agent who enforces or attempts to enforce such a measure in violation of the prohibition commits a class 1 misdemeanor. The attorney general is authorized to defend a Colorado resident who is prosecuted by the federal government for an alleged offense under an unenforceable measure. The section also defines the covered terms, treating a firearm accessory as an item used with or mounted on a firearm, including a detachable ammunition magazine.

Bars a concealed handgun permit holder from carrying a concealed handgun on the campus of a public institution of higher education, covering any building or structure the institution uses for any purpose, any stadium or arena it uses to host events, and any outdoor institution-sponsored event where the campus chief administrator, in consultation with the campus safety chief, has chosen to prohibit firearms. A permittee who is employed or retained by contract by the institution as a security officer remains permitted to carry while on duty. The measure updates the unlawful-carrying statutes so that carrying a concealed handgun in violation of the new campus restriction is a criminal offense. It defines a public institution of higher education to include colleges, universities, community and technical colleges, junior colleges, and area vocational schools.

Requires a person who is not a licensed gun dealer to route a private firearm transfer through a licensed dealer so that a criminal background check is run on the prospective recipient and the bureau approves the transfer before possession may change hands. The unlicensed transferor arranges for the dealer to perform the check, the dealer records the transaction and may charge a fee of up to ten dollars, and the resulting approval is valid for thirty days. A transferor who makes a transfer in violation of these rules can be held jointly and severally liable for civil damages caused by the recipient's later use of the firearm. The law carves out exemptions for antique and curio-relic firearms, family gifts and loans, estate transfers, temporary transfers for self-defense or at ranges and while hunting, repair or maintenance, and transfers from service members about to deploy, and a violation is a class 1 misdemeanor carrying a two-year ban on possessing firearms.

Creates a thirty-member mental health and firearms task force to advise the legislature on the loss, maintenance, and restoration of the right to purchase and possess firearms by people who, because of mental health issues, alcohol or substance abuse, or family dynamics, are clearly dangerous to themselves or others. Members are appointed by a mix of legislators, the governor's office, the state court administrator, gun-safety and firearms-owner advocates, and the executive director of the behavioral health department, drawing on mental health clinicians, law enforcement, and affected family members. The task force holds public meetings, may take testimony and written comments, must meet at least five times, and is to deliver a written report of findings and recommendations to the house and senate judiciary committees by January 15, 2015. Members serve without pay or expense reimbursement, and the task force authority sunsets on August 1, 2015.

Requires a court that subjects a person to a qualifying civil or mandatory criminal domestic violence protection order to order that person to refrain from possessing or purchasing any firearm or ammunition for the duration of the order and to relinquish any firearm or ammunition in their immediate possession or control. The relinquishment must occur within twenty-four hours of service in open court or forty-eight hours after service outside the court, with a court-authorized extension to seventy-two hours for a firearm or five days for ammunition if the person shows they cannot comply sooner. A person may satisfy the requirement by selling or transferring the items to a licensed dealer, arranging storage with a law enforcement agency, or transferring them to a private party who may legally possess them, and must file a receipt or written statement with the court within three business days. Violating the order by possessing or purchasing a firearm or ammunition, or failing to file the required proof, is a crime; the court must then issue a warrant for the person's arrest.

Requires an applicant for a concealed handgun carry permit to complete a handgun training class in person, excluding any firearms safety course that can be finished entirely over the internet or on an electronic device or in any location other than the physical place where the certified instructor offers the course. The applicant must submit a training certificate, original or a photocopy bearing the instructor's original signature, obtained within the ten years before the application is filed. The change clarifies that, to the extent permitted by the definition of a handgun training class, the applicant has discretion in choosing which qualifying class to complete. The measure takes effect upon the date of its approval and applies to permit applications submitted after that date.

Requires the bureau of investigation to charge a fee for performing the instant criminal background check that precedes a firearm transfer, capped at the bureau's total direct and indirect costs of conducting the check. All money collected is credited to a newly created instant criminal background check cash fund, which is subject to annual appropriation and whose unspent balances may be carried forward to reduce the fee in later periods. The bureau may contract with a public or private entity to collect the fee and must report to the Joint Budget Committee each January on the number of full-time employees it uses for background checks and on the calculations behind the fee. The measure also adjusts the general fund appropriations for the department of public safety to reflect the shift to a user-funded model.

Prohibits the sale, transfer, or possession of a large-capacity ammunition magazine beginning July 1, 2013, and defines the term to cover devices that hold more than fifteen rounds, tubular shotgun magazines holding more than twenty-eight inches of shells, or detachable non-tubular magazines holding more than eight shells when combined with a fixed magazine. Violating the prohibition is a class 2 misdemeanor, rising to a class 1 misdemeanor after a prior conviction and to a class 6 felony if the magazine is possessed during a felony or a crime of violence. A person who owned a qualifying magazine on the effective date and maintains continuous possession may still lawfully possess it, with the prosecution bearing the burden of refuting that claim. The law also requires magazines manufactured in Colorado on or after the effective date to carry a permanent identifying stamp and sets out exemptions for manufacturers, licensed dealers, and certain government and military personnel.

Creates a civil liability regime that treats an assault weapon—defined as any firearm other than a handgun, shotgun, or bolt-action rifle—as a dangerous product. A person who discharges such a weapon is strictly liable for all injuries and damages the discharge causes, with a narrow exception for defensive discharge inside a dwelling against an imminent threat to an occupant. Owners and possessors are liable for a third party's discharge if they negligently stored the weapon or let another take possession, and sellers, transferors, distributors, and manufacturers face liability for negligent entrustment or for sales made in knowing violation of state or federal law. The act also lets an owner surrender a weapon to law enforcement or a licensed dealer as an affirmative defense, requires the highest degree of care in handling these firearms, and repeals the statutes that shield firearm and ammunition manufacturers from certain civil suits.

Designates certain United States Secret Service employees—special agents, uniform division officers, physical security technicians and specialists, and special officers—as limited peace officers within Colorado. They hold that status only when responding to a non-federal felony or misdemeanor committed in their presence, responding to an emergency requiring immediate action, assisting at the request of a Colorado peace officer, or acting as part of a joint task force or investigation with state officers, and only while following their agency's rules. After making an arrest under this authority, the agent must immediately hand the arrested person over to a Colorado peace officer. The provision does not waive the state's sovereign immunity, create an indemnification duty, or expand federal authority to open independent investigations into violations of Colorado law.

Creates an exception to the offense of unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon for a person who is at least twenty-one years old, legally possesses a handgun under state and federal law, and whose weapon involved in the incident was a handgun. A person carrying under the exception has the same carrying rights and is subject to the same limitations as a person who holds a concealed handgun carry permit. The bill also adds a parallel exception to the offense of possessing a weapon on school, college, or university grounds for the same class of lawful handgun possessors. The act takes effect upon passage and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.

Relieves the Colorado bureau of investigation of its statutory duty to act as the state point of contact for the national instant criminal background check system in firearm transfer cases, so that gun show vendors and sheriffs must instead contact the federal bureau of investigation directly to complete the required background checks. The measure makes conforming changes to the gun show transfer rule, the concealed handgun permit verification process, and the temporary emergency permit process so each references the federal system rather than the bureau. It also updates the theft-of-medical-records statute to keep access to medical information through the background check system outside the definition of theft. The bill reduces the bureau's and the department of public safety's appropriations to reflect the elimination of the state-run check program.

Prohibits the state or any political subdivision, during a declared state of emergency, from prohibiting or restricting the otherwise lawful possession, use, carrying, transfer, transportation, storage, or display of a firearm or ammunition, from seizing or confiscating a lawfully possessed firearm except in defined circumstances such as self-defense, an arrest, or seizure as evidence, or from requiring registration of a firearm or ammunition for which registration is not otherwise required by law. An exception allows restrictions on the commercial sale of firearms or ammunition when an authorized authority has ordered an evacuation or a general closure of businesses in the affected area. An individual whose rights are violated may bring a civil action for damages against any person who subjects them to a prohibited action, and may also sue for the return of a seized firearm or ammunition. A prevailing plaintiff in any action to enforce the provision is awarded costs and reasonable attorney fees.

Extends the existing justification for using lethal force against an intruder to cover places of business in addition to dwellings. An owner, manager, or employee of a business may use any degree of force, including lethal force, against a person who makes an unlawful entry into the business when the person has a reasonable belief the intruder has committed or intends to commit a crime in the business and might use any physical force, however slight, against an occupant. A person using force under these conditions is immune from criminal prosecution and from civil liability for injuries or death resulting from the force. The act also updates the defense-of-premises provision to permit lethal force under the new business-intruder circumstances and takes effect after the ninety-day referendum-petition period.

Creates an exception to the offenses of unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon and of possessing a weapon on school, college, or university grounds for a person who is at least twenty-one years old, may legally possess a handgun under state and federal law, and is carrying a handgun. Under the exception, the person's authority to carry a concealed handgun is equal in all respects to the authority granted by a concealed handgun carry permit, including the same rights and the same limitations. The exception does not allow carrying a concealed handgun on the real property of a public school district, and the existing restriction on carrying on the real property of public elementary, middle, junior high, or high schools continues to apply. The act takes effect upon passage and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.

Creates an exception to the offense of unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon for a person who is at least twenty-one years old, may legally possess a handgun under state and federal law, and whose weapon involved in the incident was a handgun. Under the exception, the person's authority to carry a concealed handgun is equal in all respects to the authority granted by a concealed handgun carry permit, with the same rights and the same limitations. The bill also adds a matching exception to the offense of possessing a weapon on school, college, or university grounds for the same class of lawful handgun possessors. The act takes effect upon passage and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.

Extends the justification for using lethal force against an intruder to cover places of business in addition to dwellings. An owner, manager, or employee of a business may use any degree of force, including lethal force, against a person who makes an unlawful entry into the business when the person reasonably believes the intruder has committed or intends to commit a crime in the business and might use any physical force, however slight, against an occupant. A person using force under these conditions is immune from criminal prosecution and from civil liability for injuries or death resulting from the force. The act also updates the defense-of-premises provision so that lethal force is permitted under the new business-intruder circumstances, and it takes effect after the ninety-day referendum-petition period.

Removes firearms from the list of items the governor may suspend or limit the sale, dispensing, or transportation of during a state of disaster emergency. The governor retains the same authority over alcoholic beverages, explosives, and combustibles. The act takes effect at the start of the day following the expiration of the ninety-day referendum-petition period after final adjournment of the general assembly.

Designates a deputy or special deputy United States marshal as a peace officer under the state's federal special agent provision, alongside special agents of the federal bureau of investigation, the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives, and officers of the federal protective service of immigration and customs enforcement. The designated officers may act when responding to a nonfederal felony or misdemeanor committed in their presence, responding to an emergency where immediate action is required to prevent escape, serious bodily injury, or property destruction, rendering assistance at the request of a Colorado peace officer, or working in a bona fide task force or joint investigation with Colorado peace officers. After effecting an arrest under the section, the officer must immediately surrender custody of the arrested individual to a Colorado peace officer. The section does not expand the authority of federal officers to initiate or conduct an independent investigation of state law violations and does not impose state liability or waive sovereign immunity.

Removes firearms from the list of items the governor may suspend or limit the sale, dispensing, or transportation of during a state of disaster emergency. The governor retains the same authority over alcoholic beverages, explosives, and combustibles. The act takes effect at the start of the day following the expiration of the ninety-day referendum-petition period after final adjournment of the general assembly.

Declares that a personal firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition manufactured commercially or privately in Colorado by a person who is not federally licensed and that remains within the state is not subject to federal law or regulation, including registration, under Congress's interstate commerce authority. The exemption requires that the words 'Made in Colorado' be clearly stamped on a central metallic part of the firearm, such as the receiver or frame. The exemption does not apply to a firearm that cannot be carried and used by one person, a firearm with a bore diameter greater than one and one-half inches that uses smokeless powder, ammunition with a projectile that explodes after leaving the firearm, or a firearm other than a shotgun that discharges two or more projectiles with one activation of the trigger. The act applies to firearms, accessories, and ammunition manufactured in Colorado on or after its effective date, which follows the ninety-day referendum-petition period.

Extends the right to use lethal force against an intruder to owners, managers, and employees of places of business as well as occupants of dwellings. The justification applies when a person makes an unlawful entry into the business and the owner, manager, or employee reasonably believes the intruder has committed or intends to commit a crime there and might use any physical force, however slight, against an occupant. A person using force under these conditions is immune from criminal prosecution and from civil liability for injuries or death resulting from the force. The act also updates the defense-of-premises provision to allow lethal force under the new business-intruder circumstances and takes effect after the ninety-day referendum-petition period.

Exempts a person who holds a valid concealed handgun carry permit issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2010 from the instant criminal background check requirement when receiving a firearm transfer, so long as the person presents the permit and a valid identification card issued by a federal or state agency. The exemption covers transfers at gun shows and transfers by licensed firearm importers, manufacturers, and dealers. The act also requires sheriffs to issue permits conforming to a uniform template established by the bureau of investigation, requires permit applications to include the applicant's country of citizenship, and requires the bureau to search the national instant criminal background check system when processing permit fingerprints.

Extends the justification for using lethal force against an intruder to cover places of business in addition to dwellings. An owner, manager, or employee of a business may use any degree of force, including lethal force, against a person who makes an unlawful entry into the business when the person reasonably believes the intruder has committed or intends to commit a crime there and might use any physical force, however slight, against an occupant. A person using force under these conditions is immune from criminal prosecution and from civil liability for injuries or death resulting from the force. The act also updates the defense-of-premises provision so that lethal force is permitted under the new business-intruder circumstances.

Prohibits a local government from enacting an ordinance, regulation, or other law that requires a person to store a firearm in a manner that renders it inoperable, including by disassembly or use of a trigger-lock device. Any such local law in place before the effective date of the prohibition is void and unenforceable. The act also permits a Colorado firearms manufacturer to sell a firearm or accessory manufactured in the state to a Colorado resident, and permits a Colorado resident to purchase such an item, regardless of any contrary federal law. The provisions of the act are severable.

Creates the crime of criminal storage of a firearm when a person keeps a firearm on premises under his or her custody or control, knows or reasonably should know that a minor could access it without a parent's or guardian's permission, the minor obtains access, and the minor uses the firearm to cause death or bodily injury to himself, herself, or another person or carries it to a school or school-sponsored event. The offense is an unclassified misdemeanor punishable by a fine of fifty to one thousand dollars, credited to the suicide prevention coordination cash fund. Exceptions apply when the minor acts in self-defense or defense of the residence, is under direct parental supervision during safety courses, target practice, hunting, or organized competitions, or when the firearm is locked, stored securely, or kept apart from its ammunition. The act also requires licensed gun dealers to deliver a written storage warning with each firearm sale or transfer and to post it at each purchase counter, and requires gun show promoters to post the warning at each entrance.

Extends the justification for using lethal force against an intruder to places of business as well as dwellings. An occupant of a dwelling or place of business may use any degree of force, including lethal force, against a person who makes an unlawful entry when the occupant reasonably believes the intruder has committed or intends to commit a crime in the premises and might use any physical force, however slight, against any occupant. A person using force under these conditions is immune from criminal prosecution and from civil liability for injuries or death resulting from the force. The act takes effect on the day following the expiration of the ninety-day referendum-petition period after final adjournment of the general assembly.

Makes it unlawful for a person to operate a motor vehicle on any federal public land, trail, or road unless the land, trail, or road is signed or otherwise authorized for such use by the controlling land management agency. Enforcement does not commence within an administrative unit until the controlling agency identifies available routes by maps, route markers, or signs available to the public. A violation is a misdemeanor punishable by a one hundred dollar fine, or two hundred dollars within a federal wilderness area, with additional license suspension points when the person was hunting, fishing, or trapping at the time. The prohibition does not apply to peace officers on duty, persons acting at their direction, or persons authorized by legal right or agency permission, including administrative or emergency access, facility maintenance, ski area, oil and gas, or logging operations, and the provision is repealed effective July 1, 2013.

Makes it unlawful for a person to offer another person the opportunity to hunt, wound, or take any mammal that is intentionally confined in an enclosure, regardless of size, or intentionally tied, staked, caged, or otherwise restrained from engaging in normal movement. Exceptions allow taking a mammal at a slaughtering establishment for meat, leather, or fur production and humanely euthanizing a mammal for health, safety, or scientific purposes. A violation involving big game or an endangered species is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of ten thousand to twenty-five thousand dollars and suspension of wildlife license privileges for a minimum of one year to life, while a violation involving any other mammal is a misdemeanor punishable by a one hundred to one thousand dollar fine and twenty hunting license suspension points.

Removes the requirement that the bureau of investigation remain open for business at least twelve hours per day, every calendar day except Christmas and Thanksgiving, in order to transmit background check requests to the national instant criminal background check system and search other databases. Instead, the bureau must be open during the minimum hours specified for point-of-contact agencies in the federal system's user manual. The bureau must continue to provide a toll-free telephone number operational every day the office is open and must monitor and evaluate call volumes while staffing its background check unit at levels that ensure prompt processing. The legislative findings state that the change would let the bureau concentrate staff during peak call volumes to reduce dealer wait times.

Prohibits a political telephone caller from making a political telephone solicitation to any person located in Colorado or registered to vote in the state unless the caller has a preexisting relationship with the person, such as a voluntary declaration of party affiliation or prior consent to receive future solicitations. A political telephone solicitation is an unsolicited call made by an automatic dialing-announcing device or a paid person expressing support for or opposition to a candidate, ballot issue, or political cause, requesting a donation, or inviting the recipient to take part in a poll or reveal voting intent. Bona fide candidates, candidate committees, incumbents, and political parties are exempt when calling existing constituents or supporters solely to announce a town meeting, fund-raiser, or other event of interest, between 9 in the morning and 8 in the evening. A violation is a class 1 misdemeanor, and unlawful solicitations to cellular telephones also expose the caller to a private civil action for consequential damages, court costs, attorney fees, and a statutory penalty.

Creates a private right of action for a person injured as a result of criminal conduct that occurs in a gun-free zone, allowing the person to sue the person, organization, entity, or government agency that created the zone for damages. The plaintiff must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that a reasonable person would believe possession of a firearm could have helped the plaintiff defend himself or herself against the criminal conduct. Treble damages apply if a terrorist attack caused the conduct or the plaintiff is disabled, over sixty-five years old, or a member of a racial or ethnic minority group. The covered crimes include murder, first or second degree assault, kidnapping, sexual offenses, aggravated robbery, first degree arson, and first degree burglary, committed with the use or threatened use of a lethal weapon, and a zone that provides reasonable security measures such as armed guards or metal detectors is not liable.

Clarifies the residency requirements for reciprocity of concealed weapons permits issued by other states. For an out-of-state permit to carry a concealed handgun or concealed weapon to be valid in Colorado, the holder must be at least 21 years old and must be either a resident of the issuing state, as shown by the address on a valid picture identification issued by that state, or a resident of Colorado for no more than 90 days. The statute defines a valid picture identification as a driver's license or a state identification card.

Prohibits the creation and maintenance of a statewide database of concealed handgun permit holders. Sheriffs may still share permittee information with other law enforcement agencies, but only to verify the validity of a specific permit, and any database that includes permittees must be searchable only by name. The bill requires that any permittee information already in a statewide database be removed immediately, and no later than July 1, 2007.

Extends the presumption justifying deadly physical force against an intruder to places of business in addition to dwellings. An occupant of a dwelling or place of business is justified in using any degree of force, including deadly force, against a person who has made an unlawful entry and whom the occupant reasonably believes has committed, or intends to commit, a crime against a person or property. The occupant who uses such force in accordance with the statute is immune from criminal prosecution and from civil liability for injuries or death resulting from the use of force.

Removes the statutory bar that prevents sheriffs from sharing concealed handgun permittee information to build a statewide database, making the database a permanent part of the permit system. It also adds a use restriction: a peace officer may not rely on the permittee database alone, without additional information, to establish reasonable suspicion for a traffic stop. The officer likewise may not use the database by itself to justify probable cause for a search or seizure of a person, a vehicle, or property.

Grants limited peace officer authority to special agents of the federal bureau of investigation and the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives while they are in Colorado. Such an agent may act when responding to a nonfederal crime committed in the agent's presence, handling an emergency, assisting at the request of a Colorado peace officer, or participating in a bona fide task force or joint investigation with Colorado officers. Any person the agent arrests must be turned over immediately to a Colorado peace officer, and the authority does not let the agent initiate or conduct an independent investigation into violations of state law.

Extends the presumption justifying deadly physical force against an intruder to places of temporary lodging and occupied vehicles in addition to dwellings. Under the presumption, an occupant using force intended or likely to cause death or serious bodily harm is deemed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent peril when the intruder was unlawfully and forcibly entering the location, or was removing another person against their will. The presumption does not apply when the person has a lawful right to be in the location, when the person is a child or grandchild in the occupant's custody, or when the occupant is engaged in unlawful activity. An occupant acting under the statute is immune from criminal prosecution and civil liability.

Exempts a gun show transferee who holds and presents a valid Colorado concealed handgun permit from the background check normally required before a firearm is transferred at a gun show. It also requires the Colorado bureau of investigation, when processing a permit application, to search the federal instant criminal background check system and forward a set of fingerprints to the federal bureau. Finally, it sets out the citizenship and immigration documentation that a permit applicant must provide, limiting eligibility to United States citizens and legal aliens who submit the specified identifying information.

Increases a wide range of statutory hunting and fishing license fees and establishes a Colorado wildlife habitat stamp, priced at $10 when bought alone, $5 with a hunting or fishing license, and $200 as a lifetime stamp. Persons aged 19 or older must buy the stamp, or hold a lifetime version, when purchasing a hunting or fishing license other than a one-day license or before entering state wildlife areas. The bill also adds a 75-cent surcharge to each hunting and fishing license to fund the wildlife management public education advisory council and adjusts nonresident big game fees annually according to the consumer price index.

Narrows the gun show background check requirement by removing the phrase that would trigger the check when a vendor only attempts to transfer a firearm, so that the check applies to actual completed transfers. It repeals the statutory definition of a collection, which had covered a trade, barter, or in-kind exchange of firearms. The bill also clarifies the definition of a gun show and sets an effective date of July 1, 2005, applying the changes to firearm transfers initiated on or after that date.

Escalates the offense of impersonating a peace officer to a class six felony and adds a new offense prohibiting a person from being in control of a vehicle that contains a red or blue light visible directly in front of the vehicle's center. The new light offense carries affirmative defenses for peace officers, vehicles expressly authorized by a chief of police or sheriff, volunteer firefighters and ambulance attendants holding a permit, and vendors who sell or exhibit such lamps. The bill also appropriates funds to the corrections system to cover the added cost of housing the additional offenders.

Narrows the gun show background check requirement by removing the phrase that would trigger the check when a vendor only attempts to transfer a firearm, so that the check applies to actual completed transfers. It repeals the statutory definition of a collection, which had covered a trade, barter, or in-kind exchange of firearms. The bill also clarifies the definition of a gun show and sets an effective date of July 1, 2004, applying the changes to firearm transfers completed on or after that date.

Allows a court to sentence a defendant convicted of second degree assault under the general sentencing guidelines rather than the mandatory sentence of the crime of violence statute when the assault occurred in specific circumstances. Those circumstances include the victim being unlawfully on the defendant's property at the time of the assault, or the defendant acting under a good-faith but mistaken belief in the need for self-defense or defense of a third person. The change applies to offenses committed on or after July 1, 2004.

Prohibits the creation and maintenance of a statewide database of concealed handgun permit holders. Sheriffs may still share permittee information with other law enforcement agencies, but only to verify the validity of a specific permit, and any database that includes permittees must be searchable only by name. The bill requires that any permittee information already in a statewide database be removed by July 1, 2004.

Raises most statutory hunting and fishing license fees, other than nonresident big game license fees, and adjusts those nonresident big game fees annually according to the consumer price index for the Denver-Boulder-Greeley metropolitan area. It funds the wildlife management public education advisory council with a 75-cent surcharge on each hunting and fishing license and repeals the voluntary checkoff for donations to the council. The bill extends the repeal date of the council to July 1, 2009, and the act takes effect January 1, 2005.

Removes the requirement that the division of wildlife collect an applicant's social security number on a license application, unless the number is required by federal law or mandated as a condition of the state receiving federal funds. It also prohibits any license issued by the department of natural resources or an authorized agent from displaying the holder's social security number. The change applies to recreational and other licenses handled by the department.

Creates an exception to the offense of unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon for a person who may legally possess a firearm under the laws of Colorado and the United States, provided the weapon involved is a firearm. A person carrying a concealed handgun under this exception has the same rights and is subject to the same limitations as a person who holds a permit to carry a concealed handgun. The act takes effect upon passage and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.

Creates a class 3 misdemeanor offense of negligent storage of a firearm, which occurs when a firearm owner or custodian, acting with criminal negligence, stores a firearm and it comes into the possession of a person under 18 who then discharges it, killing himself, herself, or another person. The offense does not apply if the juvenile obtained the firearm while under direct parental supervision, in self-defense, defending a residence, at a safety course or shooting range, hunting under a valid license, in an organized competition, traveling to or from such activities, or as a result of a robbery or burglary. The act takes effect July 1, 2004.

Creates a statewide concealed-handgun permit system administered by county sheriffs, declaring the permitting and carrying of concealed handguns a matter of statewide concern. A sheriff must issue a five-year permit to any legal resident age 21 or older who is eligible to possess a firearm under state and federal law, is not subject to a restraining order or chronic alcohol or controlled-substance impairment, and demonstrates handgun competence through a training certificate, military service, or other listed means. The permit is effective throughout the state, and a permittee must carry it with photo identification and produce both on demand by a law enforcement officer. A person carrying a handgun in a private vehicle for lawful use or while hunting needs no permit, and the handgun is not treated as concealed.

Declares that carrying a weapon in a private automobile or other private conveyance for hunting or lawful protection of a person or property is a matter of statewide concern, regardless of how many jurisdictions the person travels through. No municipality, county, or city and county may enact or enforce any ordinance restricting that travel. The act also bars local governments from keeping records or databases of people who buy, transfer, exchange, or leave firearms for repair or consignment, and from prohibiting the sale, purchase, or possession of any firearm that state or federal law allows. Local governments may still ban open carrying in specific buildings or areas, provided they post signs at public entrances.

Establishes a statewide concealed-handgun permit program in which a county sheriff must issue a permit to any Colorado resident age 21 or older who is eligible to possess a firearm under state and federal law, without requiring completion of a training course. Applicants submit a standardized application and a fee capped at fifty dollars, and the sheriff verifies eligibility through the bureau of investigation's search of the national instant criminal background check system and state records. The sheriff must approve or deny the application within fifteen days, and a denied applicant may seek judicial review. Permits are valid for five years and effective throughout the state, local laws may not restrict a permit holder's carrying, and reciprocity recognizes permits from states that recognize Colorado permits.

Tightens the definition of a gun show by requiring that the event be publicly advertised as a gun show and limiting the term to the facility or portion of the facility where the event is held and where at least three gun show vendors are present. It removes from the definition the references to the number of firearms and to parking areas, and it repeals the definition of a collection. The bill also expands the definition of a gun show vendor to include a person who attempts to sell, transfer, or exchange a firearm at a gun show, and defines transfer and transferee to match federal law.

Requires a court, in a criminal case where the defendant is not entitled to a jury instruction on self-defense as an affirmative defense, to allow the defendant to present relevant evidence that he or she was acting in self-defense. If the defendant presents such evidence, the court must give a self-defense law instruction and tell the jury it may consider the evidence in determining whether the defendant acted recklessly, with extreme indifference, or in a criminally negligent manner. The instruction is not an affirmative defense, the prosecutor bears no burden of disproving self-defense, and the provision does not apply to strict liability crimes.

Adds a condition of riot, insurrection, or invasion to the statutory definition of a disaster for purposes of declaring a state of emergency. It repeals the provisions that let the governor prohibit the purchase, manufacture, receipt, carrying, use, sale, transport, or disposal of firearms and ammunition during such a condition, as well as the permit scheme and the penalty for violating it. The change folds the emergency firearms restrictions into the general disaster declaration framework.

Requires the clerk of every judicial district court and the probate court to periodically report to the national instant criminal background check system the names of persons found incapacitated, committed to the state's alcohol and drug abuse program, or ordered into involuntary mental health treatment. Each report must describe the reason and note that it is made under the federal Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. Clerks must cancel a record upon written request at least three years after the underlying guardianship is terminated, a commitment expires or is discharged, or a mental health case is sealed, subject to exceptions for repeat commitments. The act also clarifies that accessing medical records through the background check system does not constitute theft of medical records.

Revises the state's definition of a deadly weapon to clarify that a bee-bee gun or pellet gun is not one unless it is used to cause death or bodily injury. The definition otherwise covers any firearm, knife, bludgeon, or other weapon, device, or substance capable of producing death or serious bodily injury in the manner it is used or intended to be used. The act takes effect at the close of the ninety-day period after final adjournment that allows a referendum petition to be filed, or on the date of the official vote if a referendum is approved. Its provisions apply to offenses committed on or after that effective date.

Creates a class 3 misdemeanor for a firearm owner or custodian who stores a firearm with criminal negligence and a person under eighteen then obtains it and unlawfully possesses it in a public place, uses it in violation of state or federal law, or discharges it. The offense does not apply if the young person obtains the firearm under direct parental or guardian supervision, in self-defense or defense of another, while defending a residence, or while attending a safety course, at a shooting range, or hunting under a valid license. It also exempts possession during organized competitions or performances, while traveling with an unloaded firearm to or from those activities, or as a result of a robbery or burglary. The penalty applies to offenses committed on or after July 1, 2002.

Creates a statewide concealed-handgun permit system in which county sheriffs must issue a permit to any legal resident age 21 or older who completes a certified handgun training class, passes a background check that includes fingerprinting sent to the bureau of investigation, and is not disqualified by a restraining order, chronic alcohol use, or controlled substance abuse. Sheriffs may deny a permit when documented behavior suggests the applicant would be a danger to self or others, and the denial is subject to judicial review. Permits are valid for five years and effective statewide except in areas where carrying is prohibited by federal law or on public school grounds. The act authorizes emergency permits for people in immediate danger, exempts certain peace officers, and recognizes reciprocal permits from other states.

Requires any custodian of criminal justice records to keep confidential all identifying information about persons who hold concealed weapon permits, and defines all materials and records concerning those permits as exclusively criminal justice records outside the open records law. A custodian may exercise discretion in deciding whether to delete information identifying a person as a permit holder before releasing a record to an individual or agency. If the custodian chooses not to delete it, the person must receive written notice by registered mail or personal service, and the record cannot be released until ten days after the notice takes effect. Deletion is prohibited when the record goes to a criminal justice agency or when the permit holder is convicted of a crime involving the illegal use of a firearm.

Modifies the crime of possession of a weapon by a previous offender so that a person adjudicated as a juvenile for an act that would be a felony may lawfully possess a firearm or other weapon if the act was a crime against property not used to coerce, control, or intimidate an intimate partner and the possession occurs at least ten years after the adjudication, release from commitment, or release from supervision. The act also limits the bureau of investigation's authority to deny a firearm transfer based on an arrest, charge, or filed indictment with no final disposition recorded in the databases to events within the seven years preceding the background check. The changes apply to both the underlying possession offense and the class 5 felony penalty that attaches when the weapon is a dangerous weapon. A safety clause declares the act necessary for the immediate preservation of public peace, health, and safety.

Revises the definition of government records to expressly include computer software, programs, documentation, and data, while excluding library and museum materials, private papers, unsegregated electronic mail, and certain correspondence of elected officials. It creates a new class 6 felony for anyone who knowingly destroys, damages, or defaces any record of the state or a political subdivision, while leaving lawful records disposition performed under existing procedures untouched. The act also makes multi-year statutory appropriations to the corrections expansion reserve fund and the department of corrections. It takes effect on September 1, 2001, subject to the referendum petition period.

Declares that completing the state's integrated criminal justice information system is critical to accurate and timely criminal background checks, and requires the criminal justice information program task force to establish uniform identifiers for matching records between the bureau of investigation and the judicial department's on-line court records network. Law enforcement, correctional, and judicial entities must forward arrest and fingerprint information to the bureau within seventy-two hours, and the bureau must electronically forward that information to the judicial department within twenty-four hours of receipt. The act also requires fingerprint-based criminal history checks for owners, employees, and residents of licensed child care facilities, with a comparison search of court records and a limited exemption for temporary out-of-state camp workers. Implementation is conditioned on a companion act producing net general fund savings equal to or greater than this act's appropriation.

Creates a statewide concealed-handgun permit system administered by county sheriffs, requiring issuance to any legal resident age 21 or older who has no felony conviction or pending felony charges, no recent domestic violence misdemeanor, no outstanding arrest warrant, and no juvenile felony adjudication within the preceding ten years. Applicants must submit two sets of fingerprints, one of which the bureau of investigation sends to the federal bureau of investigation, and the bureau maintains a list of valid permit holders available only to law enforcement agencies. Permits are valid for five years and do not authorize carrying in areas prohibited by federal law, on government or school grounds, or in establishments that serve alcohol. The act exempts certain peace officers from the permit requirement, recognizes reciprocal permits from other states, and sets a uniform expiration date for permits issued before July 1, 2001.

Creates a class 3 misdemeanor for a firearm owner or custodian who, through an act of criminal negligence, stores a firearm and a person under eighteen obtains it and then unlawfully possesses it in a public place, uses it in violation of state or federal law, or discharges it. The offense does not apply when the young person obtains the firearm under direct parental or guardian supervision, in lawful self-defense or defense of another, or while defending a residence against unlawful entry. It also exempts possession while attending a hunter or firearm safety course, at an authorized shooting range, while hunting under a valid license, or during organized competitions or performances, as well as travel with an unloaded firearm to or from those activities. The act takes effect at the close of the ninety-day referendum petition period following final adjournment and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.

Adds a wildlife conservation hunting preference program under which a landowner holding at least one hundred sixty acres of agricultural land by recorded deed may apply for big game license applications for deer, elk, antelope, and other species, excluding moose and big horn sheep. Applications are allocated by acreage, from one for smaller parcels up to a maximum of six for holdings over six thousand acres, and are issued as a first priority within the fifteen percent limit on limited license units. Successful applicants receive transferable vouchers that eligible hunters may use to purchase licenses for the applicant's game management unit, and any unused preferences carry priority into the following year. The wildlife commission may also issue additional applications to landowners providing valuable habitat or public hunting access, and must adopt implementing rules before July 1, 2001.

Requires the issuing law enforcement agency and any custodian of records to keep confidential the name, address, and telephone number of every person issued a concealed weapon permit, except that the information may be released to criminal justice agencies. All materials and records concerning concealed weapon permits are defined as exclusively criminal justice records, placing them outside the open records act. Any identifying information about a permit holder must be deleted from the record before it is released to an individual or agency other than a criminal justice agency. The deletion requirement does not apply when the permit holder is convicted of a crime involving the illegal use of a firearm.

Makes it a class 3 misdemeanor for a person to negligently store a firearm in such a manner that a juvenile obtains possession of the firearm and uses it in violation of any provision of the state's criminal code or any municipal ordinance or county resolution. For purposes of the offense, negligently storing a firearm means placing or leaving it in a location where a reasonable person would perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that a juvenile would obtain possession of it. The act takes effect upon passage and applies only to offenses committed on or after that date.

Raises the penalty for the crime of possession of a weapon by a previous offender from class 1 misdemeanor to class 6 felony and requires any sentence for the offense to run consecutively with sentences the offender is already serving. The department of corrections must give every inmate a written advisement of the prohibited acts and penalties upon release, and any deferred judgment and sentence stipulation must contain the same advisement, which cannot be used as a defense or basis for appeal. A parole officer must file a complaint seeking revocation of parole for any parolee found in possession of a deadly weapon or arrested for a felony, a crime of violence, an assault involving a deadly weapon or bodily injury, or third degree sexual assault. The act also makes the offense ineligible for bail when the proof is evident, bars bail after conviction, and requires law enforcement to notify the corrections department within twenty-four hours when a parolee is arrested for it.

Prohibits any person or public or private entity from bringing a tort action, other than a product liability action, against a firearms or ammunition manufacturer, importer, or dealer for injury, damage, or death caused by the discharge of a firearm or ammunition. It also bars holding such a maker liable as a third party for the actions of another person in any type of action, and requires courts to dismiss prohibited claims on a motion to dismiss while awarding the defendant reasonable attorney fees and costs. A tort action remains available for damages proximately caused by an act of the manufacturer, importer, or dealer that violates a state or federal statute or regulation, with the plaintiff bearing the burden of proving the violation by clear and convincing evidence. The act revises the state's legislative declaration to limit product liability for firearm discharge to actual defects in design or manufacture.

Makes it a class 4 felony for a person to knowingly purchase or otherwise obtain a firearm on behalf of, or for transfer to, someone the purchaser knows or reasonably should know is ineligible to possess a firearm under federal or state law. Licensed firearms dealers must post a sign displaying the prohibition in a manner easily readable by the public at each location where they sell firearms to the general public. A dealer who fails to post the sign commits a class 2 petty offense punishable by a fine of two hundred fifty dollars. The act also makes multi-year statutory appropriations to the corrections expansion reserve fund and the department of corrections, and applies to offenses committed on or after July 1, 2000.

Prohibits the transfer of a handgun at a gun show to any person under 21 years of age and makes it unlawful for a person under 21 to purchase, trade, or rent a handgun at a gun show. The bill defines a gun show as an event sponsored by an organization devoted to the collection, competitive use, or other sporting use of firearms, and includes transactions occurring in any parking area used for the event. It requires a transferor to request identification from any transferee before transferring a handgun and makes a violation a class 1 misdemeanor, while a knowing transfer of a handgun to a person under 21 is a class 4 felony. The bill also criminalizes knowingly making a false statement or presenting misrepresented identification intended to deceive a transferor about a material fact, and makes a 5-year statutory appropriation.

Requires a transferor of a firearm at a gun show to contact the Colorado bureau of investigation and request a criminal background check on the prospective transferee before the transfer. The bureau must conduct a state and, to the extent allowed by federal law, a federal criminal background check, and then either issue a transaction number authorizing the transfer or deny authorization if the transferee is ineligible to possess a firearm or is the subject of an unresolved charge or indictment. A transfer at a gun show without first obtaining a transaction number is a class 1 misdemeanor, as is knowingly transferring a firearm to a person prohibited from possessing one, and a knowing transfer of a handgun to a juvenile is a class 4 felony. The prospective transferee bears the cost of the check, the bureau must destroy the background check records within 48 hours while retaining the transaction number and any denial records, and the act takes effect 90 days after final adjournment or, if a referendum petition is filed, on the date of the official vote declaration.

Makes it unlawful for a federally licensed importer, manufacturer, dealer, or collector to sell or deliver any firearm or ammunition, other than a shotgun or rifle or ammunition for a shotgun or rifle, to an individual the licensee knows or should reasonably know is under 21 years of age. A licensee who sells or delivers a firearm in violation of that prohibition commits the offense of unlawful sale of a firearm to a person under 21, which is a class 4 felony. The bill defines firearm, licensed collector, licensed dealer, licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, rifle, and shotgun to carry the same meanings as in the federal Gun Control Act of 1968. It takes effect upon passage and applies to offenses committed on or after that date, and makes a 5-year statutory appropriation.

Declares firearms regulation a matter of statewide concern and prohibits any municipality, county, or city and county from enacting an ordinance or resolution that restricts a person's ability to own, possess, carry, repair, manufacture, display, or transfer a firearm to a greater extent than state statute. The bill does not limit a local government's authority to regulate the areas or circumstances under which a person may discharge a firearm. An ordinance or resolution that imposes a greater penalty than a comparable state statute is treated as a greater restriction, and any such local measure in existence on the effective date that violates the act is deemed unauthorized and unenforceable for events on or after that date. The bill also amends the concealed weapons permit statute to bar a sheriff or chief of police from requiring an applicant to disclose the brand, model, caliber, or serial number of any firearm the applicant owns or uses.

Adds a joint rule of the senate and house prohibiting any person, including members of the general assembly, from bringing or possessing a firearm or explosive or incendiary device on the property of, or within any building used by, the legislature unless the person first obtains written authorization. Authorization must come from the speaker for house areas, the senate president for senate areas, or both for joint areas, and the request must describe the device, the date and place, and the purpose. A state patrol officer must inspect the device on entry, keep any firearm unloaded with the bolt open and safety engaged, and accompany the person at all times while the device is on legislative property. The rule does not apply to holders of a written concealed weapon permit or to certain peace officers and federal probation officers while on duty.

Prohibits a civil action in tort, other than a product liability action, against a firearms or ammunition manufacturer or dealer or against any firearms trade association for damages arising from physical or emotional injury, physical damage, or death caused by the discharge of a firearm or ammunition, including any action alleging the defendant is liable as a third party for the actions of another person. Upon a motion to dismiss, the court must dismiss a prohibited action and award reasonable attorney fees, in addition to costs, to each named defendant. The bill also revises the legislative declaration to state that product liability for injury, damage, or death caused by a firearm or ammunition is based only on an actual defect in its design or manufacture, not on the inherent potential of a firearm to cause harm when discharged or on any theory holding the manufacturer liable for another person's actions. The act takes effect upon passage and applies to causes of action arising on or after that date.

Makes it a class 1 misdemeanor for a person to knowingly transfer a firearm to anyone prohibited from possessing a firearm under state or federal law. It also makes it a class 1 misdemeanor to transfer a firearm without first receiving a transaction number from the Colorado bureau of investigation, and requires a transferor to contact the bureau to request a criminal background check on the prospective transferee. The bureau must perform a state and, if possible, a federal criminal background check and then either provide a transaction number or deny authorization for the transfer based on whether the check shows the transferee is ineligible to possess a firearm. The prospective transferee bears the cost of the check, the bureau must purge the records created in conducting the check while retaining a list of the transaction numbers issued, and the bill makes it a class 1 misdemeanor to make a false statement or present misrepresented identification when attempting to acquire a firearm.

Designates the Colorado bureau of investigation as the state point of contact for implementing the national instant criminal background check system created by the federal Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. While serving in that role, the bureau must meet or exceed federal standards and may, by law or rule, pursue its own policy so long as it is consistent with federal law. The bill amends the bureau's functions to carry out the statewide duties of the national instant criminal background check system in connection with the transfer of firearms, and defines a transfer to include the sale or delivery of any firearm in the state and the redemption of a pawned firearm by a person who is not a federal firearms licensee, while excluding the return or replacement of a firearm delivered to a federal licensee solely for repair or customizing. It makes a statutory appropriation to implement the measure.

Declares the issuance of concealed handgun permits a matter of statewide concern and requires any police chief or sheriff who chooses to issue such permits to establish a concealed handgun permit program within the jurisdiction. To the extent fiscally practicable, the police chiefs and sheriffs must adopt standardized applications and standardized permits. A police chief or sheriff may issue a permit to any applicant who is at least 21 years old, is a Colorado resident, and meets specified firearms training requirements, provided the applicant can legally possess a firearm under federal law and has not been convicted of or adjudicated for a felony or certain misdemeanors and is not subject to unresolved criminal proceedings, chronically or habitually using alcohol or controlled substances, a danger due to mental problems, or otherwise a danger to self or others. A concealed handgun permit issued by this state, or by another state under a comparable statute, is valid in all areas of the state, and a permittee must carry the permit and a valid photo ID when carrying a concealed handgun.

Submits to registered electors a proposed amendment to article XVIII of the constitution requiring a background check on a prospective firearm transferee whenever any part of the transaction occurs at a gun show. The measure directs a gun show vendor to require a background check on a prospective transferee and to obtain approval of the transfer from the Colorado bureau of investigation, and requires gun show promoters to arrange for the services of federally licensed gun dealers to obtain those background checks. It prohibits the transfer of a firearm if a background check has not been obtained by a federally licensed gun dealer, requires record keeping and retention by the dealers who obtain the checks, and permits them to charge a fee of up to ten dollars per check. The measure also requires promoters to prominently post notice of the background check requirement, establishes criminal penalties for violations, exempts transfers of certain antique firearms, relics, and curios, and requires the appropriation of funds to implement it, taking effect if a majority of electors vote in favor.

Recognizes that firearms regulation is a matter of statewide concern and prohibits any municipality, county, or city and county from adopting an ordinance or resolution that would impose a greater restriction on a person's ability to own, possess, carry, use, or transfer a firearm than is imposed by state law. The bill identifies the imposition of a greater penalty as a greater restriction and specifies that any ordinance or resolution in existence on the effective date that violates the act is deemed unauthorized and unenforceable on or after that date. It also changes the affirmative defenses to the charge of carrying concealed weapons into exceptions.

Declares the issuance of permits to carry concealed handguns a matter of statewide concern and instructs each sheriff to implement and administer the permit provisions, while providing that the state occupies the field of regulation of bearing concealed handguns for self-defense and that sheriffs do not have authority to regulate or restrict the issuing of permits beyond what the bill provides. The bill specifies the qualifications for receiving a permit, including age, state residency, ability to possess a firearm under state and federal law, whether the applicant uses alcoholic beverages illegally or excessively, and competence with a handgun. It specifies the contents of the permit and how the permit may be used and identifies conditions under which a handgun is not considered concealed. An applicant must submit an application and a permit fee to a sheriff, who is instructed to witness the applicant's signature on the application.

Makes it a class 1 misdemeanor for a person to knowingly purchase or otherwise obtain a firearm on behalf of, or for transfer to, a person who is ineligible to possess a firearm under federal or state law or ineligible to purchase a firearm in this state. The bill requires a licensed firearm dealer, as defined in federal law, to post a sign displaying that prohibition in a manner that is easily readable and visible to the public at each location where the dealer sells firearms to the general public. It takes effect July 1, 1999, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.

Prohibits unsafe storage of a loaded handgun by any person in control of premises who knows or reasonably should know that a juvenile under 16 is likely to gain access to it. The bill requires such a person to keep the handgun in a securely locked box, container, cabinet, or store room, in a location a reasonable person would believe to be secure, or to secure it with a trigger lock. A person who violates the requirement commits a class 5 felony if a juvenile obtains the handgun and uses it to inflict injury or death upon any person, and commits a class 3 misdemeanor if a juvenile accesses it without adult supervision and possesses or exhibits it in a public place or in a careless, angry, or threatening manner. The felony does not apply if the juvenile obtained the handgun through an unlawful entry, from armed forces, National Guard, state militia, or law enforcement personnel during official duties, or if the person in control was carrying it on the body or in close proximity, and the bill provides for additional exceptions.

Authorizes the Colorado bureau of investigation to act as the state point of contact for implementing the permanent provisions of the federal Brady law and authorizes the bureau's director to promulgate the rules necessary for the bureau to carry out those duties. The bill adds to the grounds for denial of a firearm transfer under state law the grounds of being the subject of an information or felony complaint or having been arrested or charged with a crime that, if convicted, would prohibit the arrestee from receiving a firearm. It requires the bureau to provide notice of a denial to the law enforcement agencies having jurisdiction over the area where the transferee resides and where the transferor conducts business. The director may charge a fee to cover the direct and indirect costs incurred in processing instant criminal background checks, and the bill creates a cash fund for those fees.

Requires the public safety director of each city and county and each sheriff to establish a concealed handgun permit program for issuing permits within their jurisdictions. The bill requires each public safety director and sheriff to issue a concealed handgun permit to anyone who is at least 25 years old, is a Colorado resident, and meets specified firearms training requirements, so long as the applicant has not been convicted of or adjudicated for a felony or certain misdemeanors and is not subject to unresolved criminal proceedings, chronically or habitually using alcohol or controlled substances, a danger due to mental problems, or otherwise a danger to self or others. It requires the public safety director or sheriff to conduct a criminal background check, including a fingerprint check, and to deny a permit if the applicant does not qualify as provided in the act. The bill also identifies procedures for appealing a denial of a permit.

Prohibits local governments from regulating firearms, reserving that authority to the state.

Specifies that the issuance of permits to carry concealed handguns is a matter of statewide concern and assigns responsibility for issuing the permits to county sheriffs and the official having the duties of a sheriff in any city and county. The bill specifies the qualifications for receiving a permit, including residency, age, criminal history, whether the applicant is the subject of a restraining order or an emergency protection order, illegal or excessive use of controlled substances or alcoholic beverages, mental health, competence with a handgun, and whether the sheriff has grounds to believe the applicant would be dangerous to self or others. It specifies the contents of the permit and how the permit may be used and identifies conditions under which a handgun is not considered concealed. An applicant must submit an application, a permit fee, and, in some circumstances, a photograph to a sheriff, who is instructed to verify identity, take two full sets of fingerprints, and determine whether the applicant qualifies, with procedures for denying a permit including judicial review.