Colorado’s Gun Barrel Bill Could Halt Barrel Sales Statewide

Colorado lawmakers are advancing SB26-043, a bill that attempts to regulate firearm barrels as though they were firearms themselves. What the gun grabbers are pitching as a “modest recordkeeping measure” is anything but. The bill forces all gun barrel sales and transfers through federally licensed firearms dealers (FFLs), bans ordinary private transfers, creates new misdemeanor crimes tied to gun barrels, and codifies an extremely broad legal definition of what qualifies as a barrel, sweeping in unfinished or easily convertible parts that may not even be functional firearm components yet. If passed, the law would go into effect July 1, 2026.

FFLs who process barrel transfers would be required to collect and retain detailed personal information about the buyer: names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, identification numbers, the firearm the barrel is intended to fit, and even the employee who handled the transaction. Those records must then be stored for years creating a gun barrel registry.

But buried inside the bill is the requirement that could end barrel sales in Colorado all together.

Anyone purchasing a barrel must not be prohibited from possessing a firearm.

That language mirrors the requirement used for firearm purchases in Colorado, but there is one critical difference between the two situations.

Colorado already has a background check system for firearms. It exists because state law created it and defines exactly when it can be used. That authority applies to firearm transfers only.

It does not have one for barrels.

And the bill never creates one.

The Impossible Mandate for FFLs

When someone buys a firearm in Colorado, the dealer submits the buyer’s information through the state’s background check system operated by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The state reviews the buyer’s eligibility, along with the federal NICS system, and determines whether the person may legally possess a firearm.

SB26-043 quietly assumes that same determination can somehow be made when a person buys a barrel. But the bill never creates the system that would allow it. Dealers cannot access criminal history databases or determine whether someone has a felony conviction, a domestic-violence prohibition, or any of the other legal restrictions that prevent firearm ownership.

Only the state can determine that. And for barrels, the state provides no mechanism to do it.

Yet the bill still demands that dealers ensure the buyer is legally eligible to possess a firearm. In practice, the only thing a dealer could do is ask the buyer and rely on whatever answer they give. If that buyer lies, the dealer is the one exposed to the consequences.

That leaves firearm dealers with two choices: process barrel transfers without any reliable way to verify eligibility, or refuse to handle them at all. For a small firearms business, risking regulatory penalties or license problems over a transaction the state itself has made impossible to verify is not much of a choice.

If lawmakers truly intended for barrel buyers to be screened the same way firearm purchasers are screened, they would need to expand Colorado’s background check system by rewriting C.R.S. 24-33.5-424, the statute that authorizes CBI to run those checks.

SB26-043 does none of that.

Instead, the bill requires dealers to document each barrel transfer after it happens and maintain those records themselves. Those records must be accessible to the Department of Revenue’s (DOR) Firearms Dealer Division and law enforcement at any time, giving regulators a paper trail they can request and examine if a dealer unknowingly transfers a barrel to someone who was actually prohibited.

The result is an impossible mandate placed on FFLs, which raises deeper legal concerns.

Under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, laws must give people clear notice of what they are required to do and provide a realistic way to comply with those requirements. SB26-043 misses that mark by miles. The law imposes penalties for failing to meet a standard that the state itself has made impossible to verify. Courts have long been skeptical of regulatory schemes structured this way. 

The State Is Broke & Can’t Afford To Expand The System

Even if lawmakers attempted to create that background check infrastructure, the effort would run directly into another obstacle: money.

Colorado’s background check system requires staffing, databases, and administrative infrastructure at CBI. Every transaction processed through the system consumes state resources. Expanding that system to include firearm barrels would increase the workload and require additional funding and personnel. Rather than confronting that cost, the legislation simply pushes the responsibility, and the risk, onto FFLs.

Colorado is also already facing a major budget shortfall that is expected to top $1 billion for FY 2026-2027, leaving lawmakers struggling to close funding gaps across existing programs and education.

And of course, the fiscal note for SB26-043 is magically at $0. 

Colorado’s Barrel Bill Makes California Look Thoughtful

California is currently the only other state attempting to regulate standalone firearm barrels, but even California built an eligibility system before imposing that requirement on dealers.

Under California’s SB 704, barrel purchases must go through a licensed dealer and the buyer must pass an eligibility background check through the state’s Department of Justice before the transfer can occur. They even determined a fee structure for barrel background checks.

Even California built the system first. Colorado isn’t.