We report cw oscillation on five transitions of Cu+in the near infrared in hollow‐cathode He‐CuI, He‐CuBr, and He‐CuCl gas discharges. Excitation of the upper laser levels is attributed to thermal‐energy charge‐transfer reactions between ground‐state He ions and neutral Cu atoms following discharge dissociation of the Cu halide molecules to generate free copper in the volume. Operating temperatures are in the range 400–550 °C and threshold currents for oscillation compare favorably with the lowest yet reported for sputtering Cu+lasers.