By Tanya Metaksa
What’s New— Arizona: HB 2763 amends Arizona Revised Statutes § 17-621 and establishes strict conditions under which a public shooting range located on Arizona Game & Fish Department land may be closed. Colorado: Senate Bill 26‑004, which will broaden Colorado’s “red flag” law; Florida: advances bills SB1748 and HB1551, to provide protections at the state level to complement the PLCAA; Georgia: Legislature passes SB204 prohibiting cities from imposing gun legislation; Maine: Two bills, LD208 and LD1230, which would repeal the 72-hour waiting period law, were removed from the Jan. 30 work session; Nebraska: A hearing on Feb. 2, (today)on LB1237, to prohibit weapons or prohibited substance into the State Capitol.; New Hampshire: the New Hampshire House Committee on Fish and Game and Marine Resources will hold a public hearing on a constitutional amendment ensuring the right to fish and hunt, CACR 15; New Mexico: The Senate Health & Public Affairs Committee held a hearing on SB17, an omnibus gun-control bill, on Jan. 28; Oregon: The legislature convenes on Feb. 2, and immediately, the House Committee on the Judiciary has a hearing scheduled for HB4145; South Dakota: SB2, removing silencers from the state’s controlled weapons listing has passed both the House and Senate; Virginia: The Democrat controlled legislature is on a mission to erase the Second Amendment in the Commonwealth; Washington: On Jan. 29, the House Appropriations Committee passed HB2521, 18-12, an increase in the fee for firearms background checks.
Recommended Article to read
Mark W. Smith, a Second Amendment attorney (@FourBoxesDiner on X.com and the Four Boxes Diner on YouTube.com), who reviews current cases, has written an article in the Fall 2025 Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy Per Curiam entitled “Licenses Delayed Rights Denied.” The article claims that, three years after NYSRPA v. Bruen, several “outlier” states opposed to gun rights have replaced discretionary “may issue” carry laws with facially neutral but practically obstructive licensing systems that effectively nullify the Second Amendment right to carry publicly.
State Legislatures
All state legislatures, except Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, and Texas, are in session in 2026.
Arizona: HB 2763 was introduced on Jan. 22 and assigned to the Rules Committee. the bill is responding to the disappearance of shooting ranges by non-legislative bodies. An article in thetruthaboutguns.com describes the problem. The bill’s purpose is:
“HB 2763 amends Arizona Revised Statutes § 17-621 and establishes strict conditions under which a public shooting range located on Arizona Game & Fish Department land may be closed. The bill is intended to prevent administrative or agency-level closures from occurring without public hearings, unanimous commission approval, legislative action, and executive accountability.”
Colorado: Senate Bill 26‑004, which will expand Colorado’s “red flag” law to let health‑care facilities, behavioral health treatment centers, K‑12 schools, and colleges and universities request an extreme risk protection order from a court, will be considered by the Senate State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Committee today, Monday, Feb. 2.
Florida: We have been reporting on how anti-gun states target the firearms industry, trying to dismantle industry protections and promote frivolous lawsuits that could put lawful firearm businesses out of operation. The Florida legislature is working to ensure law-abiding citizens can exercise their Second Amendment rights by advancing legislation to protect that right. This year, companion bills, SB1748 and HB1551, were introduced. These bills aim to provide protections at the state level to complement the federal Protecting Law Enforcement and Armed Firearms Act (PLCAA). HB1551 was referred to the House Judiciary Committee and assigned to the Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee for review.
Georgia: Georgia’s attorney general and pro-gun groups argue Savannah’s 2024 “safe storage” car ordinance—requiring guns left in vehicles to be secured and stolen guns reported within 24 hours—illegally conflicts with Georgia’s broad firearms preemption statute, which reserves gun regulation to the General Assembly. Before that challenge reached trial, the legislature responded by passing SB204 (House passed April 4, 2025, and Senate 32–21 on Jan. 13) prohibiting cities from imposing such storage mandates, with supporters saying it restores statewide uniformity and protects gun owners from being criminalized by local rules, while critics in Savannah maintain the ordinance was aimed at crime prevention.
Maine: Two bills, LD208 and LD1230, which would repeal the 72-hour waiting period law, were removed from the Jan. 30 work session. Since the law is currently halted by the District Court, if a lawsuit, Beckwith v. Frey, proceeds, it seems better to repeal the unconstitutional law rather than continue with the costly lawsuit.
Nebraska: A hearing will be held today, Feb. 2, on LB1237, to prohibit weapons or prohibited substance into the State Capitol.
New Hampshire: the New Hampshire House Committee on Fish and Game and Marine Resources will hold a hearing on a constitutional amendment ensuring the right to fish and hunt, CACR 15. The committee will hold a public hearing in the main Representatives’ Hall at 12:45 PM on Feb. 3.
New Mexico: The Senate Health & Public Affairs Committee held a hearing on SB17. On Jan. 28, the bill is an omnibus gun-control measure that would ban a wide range of commonly owned semi-automatic firearms, .50-caliber rifles, and magazines holding more than ten rounds, which are labeled as “extremely dangerous weapons.” It is also described as burdening firearm dealers with costly security and administrative requirements, including strict trace-response timelines and centralized recordkeeping of buyers and serial numbers, with potential felony penalties for technical violations.
Oregon: The legislature convenes on February 2, and the House Committee on the Judiciary has an immediate hearing scheduled for HB4145. This bill would implement Ballot Measure 114 and include several items that voters did not approve. Additionally, the ballot measure is still in court, as Eyre v. Rosenblum is currently in the United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The additional items added that are not in Ballot Measure 114
- Increases the time that state bureaucrats can take to issue pistol purchase permits from 30 to 50 days.
- Increases the cost from $65 to $150.
- On and off-duty police are exempt from the purchase permit.
- Postpones the permit requirement date to January 2028.
South Dakota: SB2, which removes silencers from the state’s controlled weapons list, has passed both the Senate and the House without any dissenting votes. On Feb. 2, HB1114, a bill establishing a new state classification for “certain mental health information be submitted to and subsequently removed from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System” to be reported to the NICS system, is the subject of a hearing by the House Judiciary Committee.
Virginia: On Jan. 26, the Virginia Senate Courts of Justice Committee advanced a broad package of gun control bills that would significantly restrict the possession, carrying, and storage of commonly owned firearms and accessories in the Commonwealth.
The committee’s substitute to SB749 removes the grandfather clause for standard-capacity magazines and would criminalize continued possession of any magazine over 10 rounds, including most modern handguns, rifles, and shotguns owned by law-abiding Virginians. This bill has been targeted by the DOJ Civil Rights Division head, Harmeet Dhillon, who has publicly warned Virginia that a proposed ban on magazines with more than 10 rounds—without grandfathering—would clearly violate Supreme Court Second Amendment precedent and “will not stand.” A video by Mark W. Smith (https://www.youtube.com/@TheFourBoxesDiner) explains Dhillon’s reaction on X.com. Smith describes this public post as swift, high-level pushback from the DOJ’s Second Amendment unit, indicating that the federal government would view such a magazine ban as constitutionally questionable.
Additional bills include SB749, which also redefines and bans a wide range of semi-automatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns that are commonly used legally, effectively serving as a confiscation measure. SB272 would limit who can legally carry firearms at public institutions of higher education, while SB312 would ban carrying so-called “assault firearms” in public places and, through vague definitions of center-fire semi-automatic firearms, would effectively block most semi-automatic firearms from being carried publicly statewide. SB348 requires in-home storage when minors or prohibited persons live in the home, and SB496 further restricts the ability of law-abiding individuals to keep firearms in their vehicles for self-defense. SB115 threatens existing concealed handgun permit recognition and reciprocity agreements, possibly undermining Virginia permit holders’ ability to carry when traveling in other states.
These actions occurred while much of Virginia was under a winter storm emergency, which limited gun owners’ ability to reach the Capitol to testify. Despite this, the committee still moved the bills to the Senate Finance Committee. At the same time, the committee rejected SB78, which would have increased mandatory minimum sentences for repeat firearm offenders, highlighting that current legislative priorities focus on restricting lawful gun owners rather than enhancing penalties for violent criminals.
Washington: On Jan. 29, the House Appropriations Committee passed HB2521 with an 18-12 vote, raising the fee for firearm background checks. On Wednesday, Feb. 4, the legislature convenes, and the House Civil Rights and Judiciary Committee has a vote scheduled for HB2320. This bill bans not only the manufacture of 3D firearm components but also the possession of digital instruction files and/or code. It also imposes restrictions on First Amendment rights concerning printed or digital files.
