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Monday, the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), together with the Firearms Policy Coalition, Second Amendment Foundation, Colorado State Shooting Association, Magnum Shooting Center, and an NRA member, filed a lawsuit challenging Colorado’s 6.5% excise tax on the retail sale of firearms, firearm precursor parts, and ammunition.

Colorado’s tax is set to take effect on April 1, 2025. The tax is levied on vendors, but the amount is passed through to law-abiding Coloradans every time they purchase such constitutionally protected items. The law also imposes burdensome registration and recordkeeping requirements on vendors and subjects them to harsh punishments for violations.

“Colorado’s firearms excise tax is an overt assault on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Coloradans and a deliberate attempt to discourage the exercise of constitutionally protected freedoms,” said John Commerford, Executive Director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA). “Recently, anti-gun activists in Colorado have been adopting California’s radical gun control agenda to systematically erode gun rights in the state. We are pleased to join with other Second Amendment advocates in this lawsuit to protect and defend the fundamental right to keep and bear arms.”

The United States Supreme Court recognized long ago that a right to tax is essentially a power to destroy. Thus, the Court has repeatedly held that the exercise of a constitutional right cannot be singled out for special taxation. But Colorado’s law does precisely that, penalizing Coloradans for exercising their constitutional right to keep and bear arms through an infringement-by-taxation scheme. Read more

In November of 2024, Colorado created a 6.5% state excise tax to be paid by vendors on the sale of firearms, ammunition, and firearm precursor parts to consumers located in Colorado. The excise tax does not apply to wholesale sales or sales to peace officers, active-duty U.S. military personnel, and law enforcement. The provisions of “Proposition KK” are codified at Colo. Rev. Stat. § 39-37-101, et seq.

Who Does This Apply To?

For the tax Colorado defines a “vendor” as a person or company doing business as an ammunition vendor, firearms dealer, or firearms manufacturer. All Colorado Vendors must register with the Colorado Department of Revenue by April 1, 2025, and file annual registration renewals. Vendors must keep complete and accurate records to determine their correct tax liability, including itemized invoices of all taxable products sold to Colorado consumers.

Vendors that do not have a location in Colorado must register when annual retail sales into the state exceed $20,000. This includes online sales, catalog sales, etc. If sales in Colorado are $20,000 or less for the prior calendar year, the vendor must register by the 1st of the month 90 days after retail sales exceed $20,000 for the calendar year.

Firearm Ammunition FAQs

Firearm industry vendors must register with the Colorado Department of Revenue by April 1, 2025. Failure to register opens vendors to back payment requirements and potential penalties. Read more

BELLEVUE, Wash. —— The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting petitioners in a case known as Andrew Hanson, et. al. v. District of Columbia, et. al., challenging the District’s ban on so-called “high-capacity magazines” capable of holding more than ten cartridges.

SAF is joined by the National Rifle Association (NRA). The case has national implications and the amicus brief calls the court’s attention to the fact that the federal circuit courts are divided on the question whether magazines are “arms,” what constitutes “common use,” and whether arms most useful for military service are protected by the Second Amendment.

SAF is represented by attorney Adam Kraut, who is SAF’s executive director. NRA is represented by attorneys Joseph G.S. Greenlee and Erin M. Erhardt at the NRA Institute for Legislative Action.

“In our brief,” Kraut noted, “we remind the court that repeating arms predate the Second Amendment by roughly three centuries, and that semiautomatic firearms were invented in 1885. Likewise, detachable box magazines came along back in 1862. Despite technological advances over the past 200 years, neither the sale nor possession of repeating arms of any capacity were ever banned in the United States.”

“The very essence of the Second Amendment is to protect the right to keep and bear arms,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “The language of the Second Amendment does not stipulate which bearable arms are protected, only that they are, and that the right of the people to bear those arms shall not be infringed. Because of the lower court split on whether magazines are ‘arms,’ we believe the high court needs to resolve this controversy without further delay.” Read more