Colorado senators voted to concur with over a dozen amendments made by their counterparts in the House and approved legislation to ban the purchase of certain types of firearms — unless a person undergoes a hunter training.

Senate Bill 003 underwent several changes from its introduction at the beginning of the session.

Initially, the bill would have prohibited the purchase and sale of semiautomatic firearms with detachable magazines, often referred to as “assault weapons.” However, following pushback from Gov. Jared Polis, sponsors in the Senate amended the measures to allow Coloradans to purchase such weapons after completing a required firearm safety course through the Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

The bill’s passage marks a victory for Democrats, as efforts to ban the sale of semiautomatic weapons with detachable magazines failed during both the 2023 and 2024 legislative sessions.

The bill passed through the Senate on a 19-15 vote, with all Republicans and Democratic Sens. Tony Exum and Marc Snyder and Nick Hinrichsen of Pueblo voting against it. Both Exum and Snyder also voted against concurring with the 19 amendments made in the House, which primarily dealt with the financing of the safety training at Colorado Parks and Wildlife. 

In the House, the vote stood at 36-28, with all Republicans and seven Democrats balking at the measure.

Sponsors and advocates argued the bill would help prevent future mass shootings, such as those at the Aurora movie theater, Boulder King Soopers, and Club Q in Colorado Springs, all of which, they said, were carried out using a semiautomatic weapon with a detachable magazine.

“I will never be the firearms expert that many of you claim to be, and I don’t ever want to be,” Sullivan told the Senate Judiciary Committee in January. “I can say that I have heard it all on this matter, and I believe Senate Bill 003 is a pathway forward. It will not impact a single firearm you presently own. This will be about the next one, possibly the first one for the next mass shooter in our state.”

Sullivan also pushed back on opponents’ argument that the bill violates the constitution. Similar laws in other states have been upheld in courts, he said. 

“I’m not a threat to the Second Amendment,” he said. “It’s the 45,000 who are dying by gun violence every year. I reject the notion that our military members … need more guns. More veterans have died by their own hands than have died in every war this country has been involved in since the first day. You don’t want to talk about that.”

Opponents, including the gun rights advocacy group Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, countered that the bill further chips away at the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens and forces the wildlife agency to handle responsibilities outside of its scope — without accomplishing its purported goal to stop violence.

Other critics have argued that that the slew of firearms restrictions approved by the Democratic-controlled legislature has not stopped gun violence, while making it difficult for Coloradans to defend themselves against criminals who don’t adhere to the laws to begin with. 

The bill has “morphed into something completely different” from what was introduced, said Rep. Ryan Armagost, R-Berthoud.

He said the current iteration of the bill is “probably worse than anything,” as it creates an “elite club” of gun owners who can afford to take the training course.

“Everyone at the table needs to get involved,” said Armagost. “I think the people behind this — I’m not talking about the bill sponsors, I’m talking about outside this building — there’s no partisanship.”

Armagost’s constituents widely oppose the measure, he said, and their opinions should carry the same weight as those of residents in urban areas like Denver.