A federal appeals court issued a ruling on Tuesday allowing a Colorado law that increases the minimum age for purchasing firearms from 18 to 21 to take effect, even as legal challenges to the law continue.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the attorneys representing one of the individuals contesting the law, in conjunction with the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners advocacy group, failed to provide sufficient justification to prevent the law from being enforced while the case is underway. The court has remanded the case to a lower court for additional evaluation.

This legislation was part of a suite of four gun control measures enacted by Democratic Governor Jared Polis in 2023, designed to address growing concerns about rising violent crime rates and incidents of mass shootings.
Initially, U.S. District Judge Philip Brimmer had issued a preliminary injunction to halt the law’s implementation. In his decision, he incorporated references to a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court which had expanded interpretations of Second Amendment rights. He concluded that the plaintiffs had a strong chance of succeeding in their lawsuit based on that ruling. This landmark Supreme Court decision in a 2022 New York case revised the criteria that courts use when assessing challenges to firearm regulations.

The essence of Colorado’s law is to restrict individuals between the ages of 18 to 20 from buying rifles and shotguns. Although a federal statute already prohibits licensed gun dealers from selling handguns to individuals younger than 21, this restriction is also being scrutinized following the recent Supreme Court ruling.
In response to the ruling, Shelby Wieman, a spokesperson for Governor Polis, described the law as “commonsense gun safety legislation.”
Meanwhile, Ian Escalante, the executive director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, has yet to provide comments regarding the court’s decision.