After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right to bear arms in 2022, several states simultaneously made it easier to obtain carry permits and much harder to use them. Once they could no longer require a "special need" before allowing residents to carry guns in public for self-defense, politicians in those states worried that residents would start exercising that right. Deeming that outcome intolerable, legislators banned guns from long lists of "sensitive" locations, making it highly impractical for people to legally carry guns outside their homes even after obtaining the requisite license.
In contrast with "may issue" states like New York, New Jersey, Maryland, California, and Hawaii, where licensing officials had wide discretion to deny carry permits prior to the Supreme Court's ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, Colorado already was a "shall issue" state, meaning residents could obtain permits as long as they met specific, objective criteria. Colorado legislators nevertheless are taking a page from New York et al. by proposing broad restrictions on where permit holders may carry guns.
