A proposal in the state legislature would let Coloradans place a voluntary freeze on gun sales to themselves.
The measure, SB 25-034, would make Colorado the fifth state to set up a Do Not Sell registry. If approved, residents could put their names on the registry through an online portal.
The measure is scheduled to come up for its first hearing on Thursday.
Suicides are often committed on an impulse, and guns are among the most common — and lethal — methods. The goal of the legislation is to put time and distance between a person in crisis and a firearm.
"We know that that helps save lives," said Ginny Mack, a psychiatric nurse practitioner who lives in Fort Collins.
She began advocating for a Do Not Sell list after serving as a nurse in the U.S. Navy and working with teens and college students.
"This is a self-controlled mechanism to protect oneself from one's future self in crisis," she said.
A Do Not Sell registry would be entirely voluntary. Participants would not need a court order or psychiatric evaluation to enroll. They would go to an online portal operated by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and register, and they would be able to unenroll through the same process.
Enrollment would ban a person from buying a firearm anywhere in the country by flagging them in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, but the Do Not Sell list would be open only to Colorado residents.
The proposal draws from Donna's Law, a piece of model legislation. Washington, Utah, Virginia and Delaware — have already approved Do Not Sell lists for their residents. The U.S. Congress has also considered a national Do Not Sell registry.
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