Officials with the plan to ask state lawmakers for $500,000 to help process a backlog of background checks for gun buyers.
CBI Spokeswoman Susan Medina told , the money would go toward staff salaries and technology.
The CBI staff is working 18 hours a day, seven days a week processing the applications and says the only reason it's not 24 hours a day is that a federal database used in the checks shuts down for six hours a day.
The agency has been swamped with applications for gun permits since the this month. Currently, there is a backlog of more than 11,000 applications.
In November, Coloradans wanting to purchase a gun had to wait an average of 23 minutes to get the criminal-background check. The wait time is now closer to a week.
Currently, gun buyers are not required to pay for the background checks.
In 2011, CBI performed 251,307 background checks, denying 5,832 would-be purchasers from buying a gun.
