In an interview on KNUS’ Dan Caplis Show, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) Executive Director Taylor Rhodes expressed his organization’s inability to sue and support cases that fall under the ghost gun bill.
The term “ghost guns” refers to firearms that do not have serial numbers on account that they were 3D printed or their parts were bought separately and then assembled through a kit in the owner’s home. The purchase of these kits or printing of these parts allows an individual to circumvent the background check process of their state as a result. Governor Polis signed SB23-279, which bans possession, puchase and sale of ghost guns as of January 1, 2025.
Rhodes commented, “We don’t have standing on red flag or on the manufacture liability yet; we would like to sue over those at some point if we do get standing. On the ghost gun bill, I simply can’t afford to do it.”
Rhodes and RMGO filed suit against the town of Superior in the summer of 2022. Superior had strengthened its gun policies against assault weapons and magazines that could more than 10 rounds after a shooting in 2021 at a King Soopers in Boulder killed 10.
But now Rhodes has said, “We’re projecting that these lawsuits are anywhere from $750,000, to upwards of $1 million apiece. So right now I am in over my head. I’ve got four to five million in lawsuits.”
Rhodes then elaborated that the RMGO must undergo a fundraising process before continuing to pursue any lawsuit against the state.
At least part of that process is ongoing. RMGO, which claims to have over 200,000 members, sends an email to its list approximately every other day, about half of which ask for donations to its legal fund.
The shooting perpetrated at East High School in March by a seventeen-year-old was through an untraceable firearm, Colorado’s Club Q Shooter allegedly had a ghost gun, and in the last week, a gunman in Philadelphia armed with two ghost guns perpetrated a mass shooting during the Fourth of July that killed five and injured two children. The city of Philadelphia has now filed suit against the Nevada company responsible for manufacturing the kit used by the gunman on the grounds that the kits bypasses background check rules and have caused havoc in the community.
In June, Gov. Polis signed into law legislation that would effectively ban firearms assembled and carried without serial numbers. Current owners of ghost guns would have until 2024 to have their assembled weapons marked and serialized through a background check.
At the conclusion of the interview, Rhodes was asked if a town or area of Colorado was “safe” from red-flag bills and other gun control measures like the legislation around ghost guns passed by Gov. Polis.
Rhodes responded, “You need to be wary no matter where you live in Colorado.”
