Background Checks Surged in Colorado as Buyers Raced to Beat Democrat Gun Control

Background checks in Colorado surged in July 2026 as residents raced to buy up all the AR-15s and other semiautomatic rifles before Democrats’ new “assault weapons” gun control took effect.

The effective date of the gun control was August 1.

The Colorado Sun reported that the Colorado Bureau of Investigation “received 59,452 background check requests in July [2026].” By contrast, CBI only “processed 20,172 gun background checks in July 2025.” 9News pointed out that the number of checks in July 2026 represented a “195 percent increase” over those in July 2025.

Colorado has universal background checks, but the gun control that went into effect on August 1 mandates that would-be purchasers of AR-15s and similar rifles undergo a deeper check “and complete a course before being eligible to buy the weapons.” Moreover, it should be noted that the mandated course costs money.

The Denver Post observed, “Critics of the new law argue it adds hundreds of dollars in costs and onerous bureaucratic requirements for people trying to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. He is a lever action man in an AR-15 world. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at [email protected].