By Taylor Dolven | Colorado Sun
A gun rights group challenged the 2023 law in court. Thursday’s ruling by a U.S. District Judge is a win for gun-control advocates.
Colorado’s law requiring people to be at least 21 years old to buy a gun can stand, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
The ruling is a definitive win for gun control advocates and a blow to the group Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and two young people hoping to purchase guns, who sued Gov. Jared Polis to block the law in 2023. Chief U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer sided with Polis and said in his ruling that the plaintiffs could not prove that the law violated their rights.
“Plaintiffs cannot establish a violation of a right secured by the Constitution or that they have suffered an irreparable injury from such a violation,” Brimmer wrote.
The law, passed in 2023, changed the minimum age to purchase all guns in Colorado to 21 from 18 and added criminal penalties for purchasers and firearm sellers.
Federal law already bans the purchase of handguns from licensed dealers by people under 21, but allows younger people to purchase other kinds of guns. The federal 21-year-old age requirement is being challenged, though.