Colorado has quietly carved out a niche in the gun-control world, and it’s not a good one. While Virginia grabs headlines for pushing AR bans, Colorado lawmakers are refining something far more insidious: aggressive expansion of red-flag laws that weaponize schools and healthcare systems against lawful gun owners.
That’s the warning sounded this week by William Kirk of Washington Gun Law, who broke down the implications of Colorado Senate Bill 4. And why it should concern gun owners far beyond the Centennial State.
At its core, SB4 dramatically expands who can petition a court for an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO). Colorado already lowered the bar last year by allowing more “community members” to seek red-flag orders. This bill blows that door wide open.
Under SB4, entire institutions (not just individuals) could petition to have your firearms seized. That includes K-12 schools, colleges, hospitals, behavioral health facilities, and substance-abuse treatment centers. If you or your child had contact with one of these institutions within the past six months, that entity could potentially initiate a red-flag action.
And here’s the catch: it doesn’t have to be the specific professional who treated you. The facility itself can act as the petitioner.
Kirk points out the obvious problem. Red-flag laws already operate on extremely low evidentiary thresholds. Rather than raising penalties for criminal misuse, states like Colorado are expanding the pool of people who can label someone “dangerous” and trigger firearm confiscation. Often, before the gun owner ever gets a hearing.
Even more troubling is the chilling effect this creates. If seeking mental-health counseling or substance-abuse treatment carries the risk of being disarmed, people may simply stop seeking help. That undermines public safety while eroding trust between patients, families, and professionals.
Colorado’s approach also relies heavily on vague definitions, such as “co-responders” in community response teams, non-law-enforcement personnel who interact with individuals during behavioral health calls. That ambiguity isn’t accidental. It’s how red-flag usage scales quickly without openly violating constitutional limits.
As Kirk warns, this isn’t just a Colorado problem. States like New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and Virginia are watching closely. If SB4 becomes law, it won’t be the exception.
When lawmakers can’t disarm the public directly, they outsource the job. Colorado Senate Bill 4 shows exactly how that’s done.
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