VERY common. Its not sticking at the latches on the outside of the tailgate. Oil the crap out of the rivets behind the handle. Just be careful not to break the little plastic clips that lock in the rods that extend out to the latches.
I will bet that the handle is rusted up. fix a lot of them with that issue
I used WD-40 on everthing behind the handle area and the ends of the tailgate. That was about 4 months ago, still working like new. Started taking the handle apart thinking I would have to order parts, tried the easy fix, worked great. 
common issue on all tailgates. Does GM have a large plate on the inside you can take off to get at it? If so take that off and lube it up really good.
Once you get it fixed or replaced here is a little something I do to prolong the life of the tailgate latch on my 95 Chevy Silverado. When ever I close the tailgate I hold the latch open until the tailgate is in the up/closed position, then close the latch after the tailgate is in the up/closed position, once the latch is closed I push on the top of the tailgate to make sure it is latched. I believe this makes a HUGE difference in preserving the life of the latch. I have done this for years on all of my trucks and I have never had to replace one tailgate latch and like I said my current tuck is a 95 and it still has the original latch.
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Chevy Tailgate not latching?
Welcome to the club 
Finally got mine working good the other day , while I was going down the road the gate SLAMMED open and the plastic piece fell off and busted , so I was able to soak (and I mean SOAK) the inside parts with lots of PB Blast and WD-40
Now I gotta find me one of those plastic pieces that isn’t all busted up 
I have a similar problem with my Dakota…It works perfect when the temperature is above freezing but once it gets cold it won’t shut…anyone have an answer to this problem?
If I remember to do it, I try to spray mine down with One Lube every 2-3 months and so far, no issues.
Buckshot…my 2500 had the same issue for a short period of time. The outside of the tailgate has those little plastic pieces like mentioned before….I just used some wd-40, moved those plastic pieces back into place with a regular screw driver and works fine now.
A quick shot of WD ever few months helps.
Thanks for all the replies, I will look at it tonight and lubed it up good and see how it goes.
I don’t have a plate on the inside of the tailgate there are just 3 or 4 bolts on the inside of the tailgate, I assume those hold the latching mechanism in place since they are directly on the backside of that.
WD 40 is not a lubricant. WD stands for Water Displacement 40 and was developed to use on electrical devices to remove moisture.
Use a top quality lubricant and it will last significantly longer than th WD40 will.
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Use a top quality lubricant and it will last significantly longer than th WD40 will.
Like this???
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Use a top quality lubricant and it will last significantly longer than th WD40 will.
Like this???
If that is what you have laying around, go for it
Didn’t have any KY 
but I did have a can of JB80 so I lubed it up and carefully worked the latches so as not to break the plastic pieces and the tail gate works like a charm!!
Thanks again for all the replies!!
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