Firearms dealers and Second Amendment groups hit Colorado Gov. Jared Polis with a federal lawsuit over a new law allowing police to search gun sales records without a warrant.
Polis signed HB26-1126 on June 2. The statute lets any peace officer inspect gun store records at any time, for any reason, with no warrant required.
The Colorado State Shooting Association (CSSA) and Colorado Federal Firearms Licensees Association filed the challenge on Fourth Amendment grounds. The law takes effect January 1, 2027.
“The statute provides no notice of regularity, empowers an overbroad class of inspectors with no nexus to firearms regulation, imposes no temporal or frequency limitations, and places no restrictions on the manner of inspections.”
Federal firearms law allows inspections only by ATF agents, only during business hours, and no more than once every 12 months absent narrow exceptions. Colorado’s statute imposes none of those limits.
Today we announced the filing of a federal lawsuit against House Bill 26-1126. This bill allows government agents to walk into gun stores and obtain the records of law-abiding citizens without a warrant, probable cause, or even a stated reason.
CSSA warned @GovofCO that signing… pic.twitter.com/EiME6krMqH
— Colorado State Shooting Association (@CSSA1926) June 13, 2026
Gun dealers who refuse to cooperate face misdemeanor charges under the new law.
Daniel Fenelson, CSSA director of operations, said the statute won’t stop criminals.
“Criminals do not follow gun laws. They never have and never will,” Fenelson said. “They steal firearms, obtain them on the black market and use other illegal means to obtain these weapons.”
Colorado already faces two DOJ lawsuits — one over its ban on magazines holding more than 15 rounds, another over Denver’s ban on modern semiautomatic firearms.
Polis did not respond to a request for comment.
