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A bill that would in Colorado now gives exceptions to gun purchasers who go through training under a Senate amendment approved Friday. 

Senate Bill 3 would prohibit the sale, purchase and manufacture of semiautomatic firearms that accept detachable ammunition magazines including AR-15 and AK-47 rifles as well as AR and AK-style pistols. 

Following a marathon debate on the Senate floor that stretched from Thursday night into the early hours of Friday, Democrats gave initial approval to the bill, which now heads to a final vote expected as early as next week. 

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But they added a major caveat that allows Coloradans to still buy those guns if they complete a training course offered through the state. 

Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Frisco, had been one of a handful of Democrats not fully supportive of the bill in its original form. In a text message Friday, Roberts said he is “pleased with the general direction they brought the bill in.” 

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“It sets up a process where there won’t be an arbitrary ban that would have hurt hunters and caused 2nd Amendment legal challenges but creates more safety training that will save lives,” Roberts said. 

The amendment gives gun buyers two options for purchasing firearms that would otherwise be prohibited. 

For buyers who’ve already obtained a hunter’s license through Colorado Parks and Wildlife, they would need to take an additional four-hour course. For those who haven’t, they would need to undergo a 12-hour safety course over two days that would be offered through a local sheriff’s office and administered by a qualified firearms instructor. 

The course would cover information like safe gun use, federal and state firearm laws and de-escalation and crisis intervention tactics. Applicants would need to score 90% or higher on a test at the end of the course to be approved for a semiautomatic gun purchase. They would also need to retake a shorter version of the course every five years if they wished to make future purchases. 

Bill sponsors brought the amendments , who was not fully on board with the gun control measure in its original form. 

Roberts said with those changes, he is likely to support the bill during its final Senate vote “but am still having some conversations with local sheriffs to make sure this is workable.” Roberts said he is also speaking with constituents in the meantime. 

Colorado Democrats have tried for two years to pass a major gun control bill in a state that has seen in the country. Despite the party’s strong majorities in both the Senate and House, have been in support of previous efforts to pass broader bans on what lawmakers defined as “assault weapons.”

A bill in 2023 failed to make it out of a House committee while a 2024 bill passed in the House but died in a Senate committee hearing. This year, Democrats’ hopes for gun control legislation were renewed after gaining support from Sen. Tom Sullivan, D-Centennial. 

Sullivan, whose son Alex was killed in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting, has advocated for other gun safety measures passed by the state legislature in previous sessions, such as the “red flag” law and a waiting period for gun purchases. But he’s , which he believes should be dealt with at the federal level. 

This year, Sullivan is a sponsor of Senate Bill 3, which he rejected calling an assault weapons ban, saying instead he sees it as a way of enforcing the state’s existing ban on high-capacity magazines. 

Under a 2013 law, Colorado prohibits magazines that hold more than 15 rounds even as the sale of guns capable of carrying high-capacity ammunition remains legal. said banning the sale and manufacturing of high-powered guns like AR-15 and AK-47 rifles will help the state better enforce its magazine law. 

Senate Bill 3 would not affect guns that are currently owned. 

“In this case, we’re concerned about the next firearm, not the ones you have,” Sullivan said during debate on the Senate floor Thursday. 

Restricting guns with detachable magazines is a “step in the right direction and will help us save lives,” Sullivan said. 

Republicans and Second Amendment Rights advocates have lambasted the bill as an affront to constitutional rights. Gun shop owners have also criticized the measure over concerns that it will make a large share of their products . 

“I’ve had a number of calls from gun shops, firearm dealers in my new district, and they’re concerned about this because this is what they do,” said Sen. Marc Catlin, R-Montrose. 

Catlin’s district encompasses wide swaths of rural Western Slope communities in addition to the more populous cities of Glenwood Springs and Aspen. He said guns are an important tool for self-defense in rural areas, including against wildlife. 

“I need the folks that are here that don’t understand rural Colorado to think about what I’m saying,” Catlin said. “The next (semiautomatic gun) might be the one that you really need on that farm or ranch or that you really need in that apartment or that you need in that house. I don’t think we should limit that.” 

Other amendments approved include expanding the eligibility for who can inherit a gun based on a gun owner’s will and exempting commonly used hunting rifles from the ban. 

The bill is expected to pass during its final Senate vote and head to the House, where it is likely to see even broader support among Democrats. 

Last year’s assault weapons ban , and Democrats currently hold a 43-22 majority in the chamber.