Senate Bill 3: Gun licensing scheme much broader than claimed

The Colorado legislature is close to final passage of Senate Bill 25-003, to impose one of the most restrictive licensing systems in the nation on many, but not all firearms. Legislators and the public should understand that the bill would apply to all semiautomatic centerfire handguns. The kinds of handguns that Coloradans typically choose... would become much more onerous to purchase.

Senate Bill 3 seems cunningly written...

The bill does not apply to semiautomatics that fire the puny .22 rimfire cartridge...

The new system includes three additional fees on top of the ones already charged to firearms purchasers in Colorado, and none of those fees are capped. Unlike Colorado’s system for issuing handgun carry licenses, no government official has any obligation to make a decision on an application within a time frame.

Coloradans would still be able to buy revolvers rather than semiautomatics without running the new gauntlet. But revolvers constitute only about a sixth of all handguns sold these days, because American buyers prefer semiautomatics for their lower recoil, greater accuracy, and easier handling, among other reasons...

... Senate Bill 3 gives the governor the power to impose the new system on every centerfire semiautomatic handgun...

If the governor were to follow the bill as written, the expensive approach would be to compile a complete list of every semiautomatic centerfire handgun ever manufactured...