Chip's notes, not legal advise or an official record. ## Take Aways - If you have out of state hunters ed, get it verified - Once you take the exam, you are good for 5 years - After 5 years you have to take the basic course again - CBI Instacheck failure rate is ~1.5% for all firearms - Colorado law says you can't track gun owners - General Public will have the opportunity to ask questions in meetings - Keep checking the CPW website - Rain may have made it so that instructors have to take a different test by pointing out they have the answer key - Instructors will get training in May - Assembly is unclear so it’s not defined whether lower receivers will be marked or will yield manufacture - Very initial background check is done by a public check company (you get it done via a company) - You still get CBI Instacheck'd when you purchase - CCW **does not** get you out of SSF education - SSF will be a list of specific gun models, Department of Revenue is working on the list - Via a consultant, the consultant is working on the list - Bill goes live Aug 1, 2026 - Everything has to go perfectly to hit this date though because they are getting a late start ## Presentation Notes - Brian Holder - Bear Hold - Ben Price - Awareness Analytics - Ty - Dominus Protection - Speaker 1 - Dan Coil Firearms Program Safety Manager [[Colorado Parks and Wildlife|CPW]] - Goes into effect Aug1 - This is the first discussion with anyone - They talk with employees on Wednesday - Website up on Thursday - Unprecedented pace for process development - Dan came into this position in October and worked hunting season, only got going on this in November - Training specialist and admin are hired - Also here - Jim Hawkins - Assistant Chief LE - Not here - Kirk Teklits - Manager Business Operations - Heading up "firearms safety database" - Specified Semiautomatic Firearm (SSF) - CPW involvement - Tasked with taking the program on and running it - Develop system of records - Form for applicants - Check if Hunter education is completed - Establish curricula for basic and extended - Instructors will not need to come up with curriculum, CPW will teach that and set - They assume that all CCW instructors will teach the classes - They'll reach out to instructors in May - This process is not finalized, CPW is looking for constructive feedback - SSF is defined in 18-12-116, _what is NOT is also in that document_ - Per CRS 24-35-112 Department of Revenue is making **the specific list** of models that are SSF, the list is not done yet - The consultant is working on the list, end of Jan/Feb - The list will be on the CPW website and will never be static - This bill does not affect purchase of amunition - The law does not pertain to firearms owned prior to Aug 1, 2026 - CCW process is **not** reciprocal to the SSF education/process - Customer journey 1. Online application 2. Go to sheriff's office with ID, application, and public background check (that you performed) - You pay sheriff's department fee and CPW fee 3. Sheriff determines eligibility - Sheriff will record your eligibility into the database, positive or negative - You have 5 years to go and take the exam 4. Verify hunters education via CPW - If you have non-CPW hunters ed, you have to come in and the CPW verifies you 5. Sign up and take safety class, pass the test - You can take courses in a different county - Instructors will be verified by Sheriff, similar to CCW - CPW does not teach course directly - 12-hour course must be two days - Both courses must be in-person - 90% on exam required - Instructor has 3 business days to enter your passing of the course 6. Instructor verifies eligibility card and test results are entered into database 7. Customer goes to store, selects firearm store, FFL initiates 3-day hold 8. FFL confirms information and enters data into database - CBI background check (Instacheck) is performed here 9. Purchase firearm - Timeline - ![[IMG_1283.jpeg]] - Fee will be proposed to Wildlife commission meeting in March - There will be online and in-person meetings - Questions and Answers - Q: is there a requirement for live fire in training? - AG says there is no requirement for live fire - There are some requirements but live fire is not required - Q: Hunter safety really better than being retired LE?! - Yes - LE not required for duty-use - Q: Will FFLs need to do their own check? - Yes, FFLs will need to access the database on their own - Q: Will department of revenue have a representative on stakeholder meetings? - Yes, but they say they already met with FFLs - Q: No carve out for instructors? - Yes, instructors will need to take the course - Q: What criteria is there to deny a card and is there any way to appeal? - In statute they can deny based on their criteria, there is an appeal process - Q: What happens when the system isn't implemented by Aug 1? - There is no other plan - Q: How much of the process can be done in parallel? What would the total timeline be? - There is no timeframe in the statute, the county has no requirement - Q: Why did they task CPW? - CPW not sure but hunter ed may be the link, CPW didn't ask for it - Q: There are a lot of parties involved, I get stuck in limbo on silencer approvals. Who can I reach out to clarify? - CPW will try to make the form to include more information - Q: Does this create a firearms registry? - No, because we don't know if you purchase a firearm - Q: Five years starts from approval from sheriff? - 5 years from when you get the card to take the course, after taking the class you have 5 years - Q: Purchase and sale, what constitutes a transfer? If I own an SSF and die, does it goes to my husband or will he need to fill out the application? - The statues have a transfer. They do not include passing on death. It *will* be clarified with the AG and put into the Q&A part of the website - You can sell to someone out of state without any requirements - If you purchase elsewhere it still applies to you - Q: What about online purchases? - FFL in-state will still have to deal with this - Q: What about warranty returns that have a different serial number? - Send an email please - Q: Gunsmiths? - Gunsmiths can work on SSFs - Q: Will instructors' 5 years count when they get the instructor training? - That is a good idea, Dan may steal that idea - Q: Who has access to this database? What is the information on data retention? - Dan hasn't seen anything about retention, will look. - Access: Sheriff has x access, instructors have y access, Administrators can see more/most. There is nothing that would give access to any federal agency or CBI. - Q: Will instructors have classroom resources or web pages with resources? - Yes, Dan's vision is that CPW will provide most of the information that's needed to be given to the students - CPW will not provide a facility - Jameson(sp?) is the instructor, they monitor the safety email as well - Q: 12-hour has no online? - Correct - Q: What materials/firearms do instructors need for in-person courses? - Jameson will need to figure that out but it will be focused for SSFs - Q: Is the new system going to be connected to CID? - It will be separate from CID but you can supply CID number on the form to help identify you for checks if you want. Hunter safety also stays separate - Q: Will we ever have a universal background check that can be reused? - That would be a big animal to tackle - Q/Suggestion: Allow for two surnames - Q: Sheriff approval process, will there any be process in place to prevent a sheriff for running it out indefinitely? - That would be a great update to the legislative package, talk to legislators - Q: Can you use a CBI backround check for sheriff? - That would be up to individual sheriffs - Q: What does manufacture mean? (what if you buy a lower now and build it after Aug 1?) - That's a Department of Revenue question - Q: Will you be offering more Hunter Ed courses? - That's a great point, we need to offer more - Q: Will you make it easier to become a Hunter ed instructor? - We'd like to - Q: What's different between the eligibility card and a background check? - The county in which you reside. It's outside CPWs lane to define that. It's slightly in the standard but it's up to them. - Q: Is the August 1 deadline fixed? There are still significant questions that are outstanding, do you need a plan B can you push on the date? - Yes, it's fixed. It will be a drivable car, it may not have paint or a stereo, but it will be drivable *by Aug 1*. - Q: What happens if instructors don't file in 3 business days? - The record should count but the Sheriff will be responsible for auditing. - Q: Where does a funding shortfall come from if it's not self funding? - They'll adjust fees or will have to pull from general fund - Q: Any idea for the fee? Will it be $20 or will it be $300? - We've talked about everything, look at the fiscal note. It estimated 50,000 people will do it per year at a $45 fee. The commission may change it. - Q: As an instructor I have to keep physical tests and targets? Will there be a retention requirement for test scores on this? If not, what do hunter ed people do? - Will need to be outlined in policy. You'll need to hold on to them for 5-years. You'd prefer to digitize or send them to CPW to store. - Q: Will there be a fee to be a verified instructor? - There will not be a fee from CPW, it will be whatever the Sheriff needs to be an instructor. Instructor course will be free. - Q: What should verified instructors be watching for? - CPW will get with Sheriff's department to get a list of instructors. It would be appreciated if you email them to say you're an instructor and to make sure you're included in stakeholder meetings. - Q: Will there be a list of background checks that are accepted for the first stage to the Sheriff? - The statute says something specific, the Sheriff's office will accept it so get with the Sheriff's office. - Q: There are 4 unknown fees? - Yes but you'll know before purchasing and can comment on CPW's fee in Mar-May. - Q/comment: This sounds complicated, is there any chance you'll have a centralized group that makes decisions or a point of contact? - Not really, Sheriff's + State - Q: Is there a route where we can ask Sheriff's questions with regards to this? - Give it some time, till the end of Jan. Dan's guess is that there will be the admin person at Sheriff's for verified instructors will be the same person. Go to that administrator now and touch base with them. - Q: Since the DoR is making the list do you know if frames and receivers fall into that? - That would be a guess. They have their own website and email. "Department of Revenue Firearms Dealer website" (https://sbg.colorado.gov/firearms-dealer-division) - Q/comment: CPW should include some information to customers - Yes we're going to have some pretty lengthy read/diagram of the process to help customers - Q: This is historically outside of CPW's purview, what if anything can instructors do to help support CPW? - Thanks. Most instructors have a similar slant. A couple things: - Please email and ask for Jameson to help with curriculum, so that it's productive - Get the word out to other instructors with this information, and Dan's contact information, and to the web page - so they join the stakeholder meetings - Q: Will we get the slides? - Possible, but we have to ask permission, and the core information is on the website - Firearms safety email: [email protected] - https://cpw.state.co.us Firearms Safety pages will be live Jan 8, 2026