Question 1

Are ghost guns and 80% lowers legal in Colorado?

Accepted Answer

Restricted. Unserialized firearms and covered unfinished frames are prohibited, personal manufacture is limited to licensed manufacturers, and potentially functional 3D-printed components are separately barred. Effective 2024-01-01. Controlling law: Colo. Rev. Stat. § 18-12-111.5; HB26-1144.

Question 2

What law covers unfinished frames and unserialized firearms in Colorado?

Accepted Answer

The controlling law is Colo. Rev. Stat. § 18-12-111.5; HB26-1144. Unserialized firearms and covered unfinished frames are prohibited, personal manufacture is limited to licensed manufacturers, and potentially functional 3D-printed components are separately barred.

Question 3

When did Colorado's unfinished frame or unserialized firearm restriction take effect?

Accepted Answer

Colorado's rule took effect 2024-01-01. SB23-279 permits transfer to a federal licensee for serialization, but parts of the unfinished-frame rule ask whether federal law requires a serial number. Defense Distributed v. Blanche therefore creates a federal-reference question for protected parties even though Colorado independently bars possession of unserialized completed firearms and unlicensed manufacture. HB26-1144 took effect July 1, 2026 and separately prohibits producing potentially functional firearms, unfinished frames or receivers, magazines, or rapid-fire devices by additive or subtractive 3D printing, subject to licensed-manufacturer and accredited-gunsmithing exceptions.

Question 4

Are 80% lowers and self-built firearms legal under federal law?

Accepted Answer

Federal law does not prohibit making a firearm for personal use, but prohibited-person, detectable-firearm, and unlicensed manufacturing-for-sale rules still apply. On August 17, 2026, Defense Distributed v. Blanche held 27 C.F.R. §§ 478.11 and 478.12(c) unconstitutional, but the judgment did not vacate those regulations and its declaratory and injunctive relief is party-scoped. Buyers outside the protected parties remain subject to the 2022 federal frame-or-receiver rule while litigation continues; state serialization, transfer, possession, and manufacturing laws apply independently.

Federal baseline verified 2026-08-18. Scope: Unfinished firearm frames and receivers, including products marketed as 80% lowers or pistol-frame blanks, plus firearms privately made without a serial number. Serialized stripped receivers transferred as firearms are outside this class's unfinished/unserialized restrictions.

Are Ghost Guns and 80% Lowers Legal in Colorado?

Litigation Status and Details

Federal baseline

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