LAKEWOOD, Colo. – Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) has filed suit against the State of Colorado on behalf of law-abiding citizens whose Second Amendment-protected rights are being violated by the state’s new gun control law, SB25-003.
MSLF represents six individual plaintiffs and the Colorado Shooting Sports Association (CSSA), directly affected by the law’s restrictions. Israel Del Toro, a decorated Air Force veteran and the lead plaintiff, survived an IED blast in Afghanistan and lives with severe injuries. Colorado’s law bans the only firearms and accessories he can physically use, like force-reset triggers and AR-platform pistols — effectively denying him the ability to defend himself. Colorado is trying to take away the very freedoms he fought to protect.
The new law enacts a permit-to-purchase scheme for firearms that could take months to process, leaving citizens stuck in bureaucratic limbo, but is also extremely vague when identifying the types of firearms it bans.
It piles on red tape, requires the payment of excessive permit and processing fees, and reclassifies common firearms and accessories as “dangerous or illegal weapons” – criminalizing their possession. These are all conditions that amount to an effective ban of semi-automatic firearms.
This case is part of a growing movement to stop states from defying the Supreme Court’s clear rulings on the right to keep and bear arms. Colorado’s permit-to-purchase scheme is a direct affront to the Constitutional rights recognized in District of Columbia v. Heller and reaffirmed in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. In Bruen, the Supreme Court confirmed that carrying a firearm in public for self-defense is a longstanding right—and no other Constitutional right requires proving a “special need” to exercise it.
Colorado’s restrictions have no basis in our nation’s history or traditions.
“If the State of Colorado were to try these backhanded tactics to limit any other fundamental right – whether that be religion, speech, or the right to counsel, those statutes would be quickly struck down as unconstitutional by even the most partisan of jurists,” said MSLF’s Center to Keep and Bear Arms, Michael McCoy.
“But when it comes to the Second Amendment, these tactics to limit our God-given tight to keep and bear arms for self-defense have born fruit for far too many states . . . and for far too long, No more! With the recent and clear precedent out of the United States Supreme Court and the Tenth Circuit upholding the Second Amendment protected rights of law-abiding citizens, SB3 will not be able to survive review, and will be struck down. I am confident of that.”
MSLF is seeking a declaration from the courts that Colorado’s permit-to-purchase requirement is unconstitutional under Bruen, and that such laws must be struck down nationwide.
About Mountain States Legal Foundation
Mountain States Legal Foundation is a nonprofit, public-interest legal firm established in 1977. MSLF is dedicated to individual liberty, limited and ethical government, and the benefits of the free enterprise system. MSLF defends its clients through pro bono litigation and seeks victory for its clients at the highest level possible to establish binding legal precedents to benefit millions of Americans. Through its litigation and public discourse, MSLF educates the American public on the threat unrestrained government presents to our liberties. Learn more at mslegal.org.
