Colorado’s legislature signed SB 25-34 into law in June 2025, creating a voluntary “do not sell” firearm enrollment often called Donna’s Law, sponsors said at a Nov. forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Colorado.

Virginia "Ginny" Mack, a board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioner from Fort Collins who helped conceive the measure, told attendees the law allows people at risk of self-harm to request that their names be entered into the federal background-check system so a future firearm purchase will be blocked. "This is really a place to take a proactive step as a prevention tool," Mack said.

The law’s sponsors and supporters cast the measure as a self-directed suicide-prevention tool that preserves personal agency while creating time and distance between a person and an impulsive firearm purchase. Mack cited national and state data during the presentation: she said gun suicides account for roughly 63 deaths per day nationally, Colorado ranks 13th in the nation for gun-suicide rate, and more than 70% of firearm deaths in Colorado are self-inflicted.

Key features described by sponsors

- Voluntary, confidential enrollment: people may add their names to the list by showing identity proof in the enrollment process; sponsors said the state will verify identity to prevent others from enrolling someone without consent.

- Reversible with a cooling-off period: the law allows a person to request removal, but removal is not immediate; sponsors said a 30-day waiting period applies after a removal request.

- Contact person notification: the enrolling person may provide a contact who will be notified at enrollment and again when a removal is requested.

- Connection to national system: sponsors said the Colorado list will interconnect with the national background-check system so enrollment in Colorado would block purchases in other states.

Implementation and funding

Sen. Kathy Kipp, sponsor and former Poudre School District board member, said the law has no built-in implementation funding in the current state budget and carries a fiscal estimate of roughly $209,000 to build an online portal and integrate with the background-check system. "We decided that we wanted to make this the easiest way possible for people to apply," Kipp said, explaining the online portal is intended to lower barriers compared with in-person sign-up at law enforcement agencies.

Kipp and Mack said they have raised about $70,000 so far through donations and grants but still need additional funds (they cited roughly $150,000 remaining) to stand up the portal. A foundation that has provided grant money set a 2026 funding timeline, which sponsors described as a practical deadline for completing implementation.

Questions from attendees and sponsor responses

Attendees asked who receives enrollment data and whether sign-up will impose cost or administrative hardship. Kipp said the Colorado Department of Public Safety and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation will manage the state’s enrollment list; sponsors said there will be no fee to enroll or to request removal. Sponsors also said the portal can include links to behavioral-health resources (including 988) but, because enrollment is confidential, it does not itself trigger proactive outreach.

Outreach and uptake

Mack reviewed research and experience from other states, noting variable sign-up methods: some states used law-enforcement offices, some allowed health-care provider sign-up, and a few added online options. Citing surveys she described as illustrative (not strictly population-representative), Mack said about 46% of a surveyed psychiatric-patient sample and roughly 30% of a general-population survey indicated willingness to sign up. Sponsors said Colorado’s online option aims to increase uptake and that they will work with health-care associations, nursing groups and the Office of Gun Violence Prevention to promote the program once funding is secured.

What’s next

Sponsors asked attendees to spread the word and consider donations. The project’s public website is donnaslawforcolorado.com, which the presenters said includes donation instructions and a fundraising progress indicator. Sponsors said they would notify stakeholders and provider groups when the portal goes live.

Limitations and outstanding details

The forum did not provide a statutory citation beyond the bill label used in presentation (SB 25-34) or an exact implementation date beyond the June 2025 enactment. Sponsors said many operational details (the portal’s hosting location, the full identity-verification process and final user interface) will be finalized with the Colorado Department of Public Safety and Colorado Bureau of Investigation as part of the implementation work funded by the ongoing fundraising and grant activity.

Ending

Sponsors described Donna’s Law as a prevention-oriented option for people who want to create a voluntary firewall between themselves and firearms. They said the law is enacted but not yet operational statewide; implementation depends on the remaining fundraising and final technical work to connect the Colorado portal to the national background-check system.