Colorado Gun Laws Explained
Colorado regulates who may buy and possess firearms, how firearms may be transferred and stored, which firearms and magazines may be sold, and where a person may carry. Federal law and local ordinances can add further restrictions. This overview is updated through September 2026 and highlights major statewide rules, but the precise statute and local law should be checked before buying, transporting, or carrying a firearm.
Buying or Transferring a Firearm in Colorado
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation serves as the state’s point of contact for firearm background checks. A federally licensed dealer must obtain approval before completing a transfer, and Colorado generally requires a background check for a private transfer as well. Statutory exceptions can apply to certain transfers.
Colorado’s delivery waiting period is the later of three days after the dealer initiates the required background check or the time when the transfer is approved. Limited exceptions include qualifying antique or curio-and-relic transactions and transfers for which no background check is required.
Colorado law generally sets 21 as the minimum age to purchase a firearm, subject to statutory exceptions and any controlling court orders. A seller must comply with both state and federal restrictions.
Colorado also imposes a 6.5% excise tax on the net taxable retail sales of firearms, firearm precursor parts, and ammunition by covered vendors. The tax took effect April 1, 2025, and specified exemptions apply.
Specified Semiautomatic Firearms
As of August 1, 2026, Colorado law restricts the manufacture, distribution, purchase, sale, and transfer of specified semiautomatic firearms. The statutory definition includes certain semiautomatic rifles or shotguns with detachable magazines and certain gas-operated semiautomatic handguns with detachable magazines.
The law contains detailed exceptions. For some transactions, a purchaser must hold a valid firearms safety course eligibility card issued by a sheriff and complete qualifying hunter-education and firearms-safety training within the statutory time limits. A sheriff must deny a card when an applicant cannot lawfully possess a firearm or cannot be positively identified and may deny or revoke a card based on specified documented safety concerns, subject to judicial review.
The law also classifies a device that increases the rate of fire of a semiautomatic firearm as a prohibited rapid-fire device. Because the definitions and exceptions are detailed, do not rely on labels such as “assault weapon” or on a firearm’s appearance alone. Review the model, operating system, magazine configuration, transaction date, and the current statute before a transfer.
Three-Dimensional Printing of Firearms and Components
Effective July 1, 2026, Colorado generally prohibits knowingly manufacturing or producing by three-dimensional printing a potentially functioning firearm, unfinished frame or receiver, large-capacity magazine, or rapid-fire device. The statute defines three-dimensional printing to include additive and subtractive manufacturing and provides limited exceptions, including for federally licensed manufacturers and qualifying accredited gunsmithing programs.
Magazine Capacity
Colorado generally prohibits the sale, transfer, or possession of a large-capacity magazine that accepts, or can be readily converted to accept, more than 15 rounds of ammunition. The law includes exceptions, including provisions affecting magazines lawfully possessed before July 1, 2013. Local laws may be more restrictive.
Safe Storage and Lost or Stolen Firearms
A firearm must be responsibly and securely stored when the owner knows or reasonably should know that an unsupervised juvenile could gain access without permission or that a resident of the premises is prohibited from possessing a firearm. Colorado classifies unlawful storage as a criminal offense, and licensed dealers must provide a qualifying locking device with a transferred firearm.
Colorado separately regulates firearms left in unattended vehicles. A handgun generally must be kept out of plain view in a locked hard-sided container inside a locked vehicle, locked trunk, or locked recreational vehicle. Other firearms may qualify for storage in a locked hard- or soft-sided container, but a firearm in a soft-sided container generally must also have a locking device installed. Statutory exceptions apply.
An individual firearm owner must report a lost or stolen firearm to law enforcement within five days after discovering the loss or theft. A family or household member may make the report for the owner. The law provides penalties for failing to report and directs law enforcement to enter the firearm information into the state’s crime-information database.
Open Carry, Concealed Carry, and Local Rules
Colorado generally allows open carry under state law, but local governments may impose stricter rules. Denver prohibits open carry. Other municipalities, special districts, and governing boards may restrict firearms in buildings or specific areas under their control.
Carrying a handgun concealed on the person in public generally requires a Colorado concealed handgun permit or a qualifying permit from a reciprocal state. Since July 1, 2025, most initial applicants relying on a training class must complete a qualifying in-person course within one year before applying. The course generally requires at least eight hours of instruction, a written competency exam, and a live-fire exercise. Renewal applicants must also demonstrate competency under the current rules, which may include a qualifying in-person refresher course with testing and live fire.
Permit holders must still obey sensitive-place restrictions, local ordinances, federal law, and any valid court order. Read our detailed Colorado concealed carry guide for permit, reciprocity, training, and location rules.
Places Where Firearms Are Restricted
Federal facilities and other federally regulated locations may prohibit firearms. Colorado also restricts firearms in sensitive spaces such as specified government buildings, courthouses, schools, child-care centers, institutions of higher education, and election locations, subject to detailed statutory exceptions.
A permit does not create a blanket right to carry in a restricted location. The exact property boundaries, parking-area rules, posted notices, security screening, and the person’s role or authorization can affect whether an exception applies.
Who Is Prohibited From Possessing a Firearm?
State and federal law prohibit firearm possession by people in several categories. The analysis may involve particular felony or misdemeanor convictions, domestic-violence orders or convictions, mental-health commitments, immigration status, age, controlled-substance restrictions, or other court orders. Colorado’s possession-of-a-weapon-by-a-previous-offender statute was also amended in 2025 to add certain motor-vehicle-theft convictions.
Whether a past case creates a prohibition can depend on the offense, conviction date, sentence, jurisdiction, and later court orders. Do not assume that dismissal, sealing, the passage of time, or a permit automatically restores firearm rights.
What to Do After a Colorado Firearms Charge
Firearms cases often depend on possession, knowledge, the location, the type and configuration of the firearm or magazine, the validity of a permit, and how police discovered the weapon. Preserve purchase records, permit documents, photographs, serial-number information, and any notices posted at the location. Do not alter or transfer the firearm while a case or court order is pending without legal advice.
If you are under investigation or have been charged, contact a Denver criminal defense lawyer to evaluate the statute, local ordinance, search, and possible defenses.
Colorado Gun Law FAQ
Official references: the Colorado General Assembly’s Colorado Firearms Laws summary, HB 23-1219 waiting-period law, HB 21-1106 safe-storage law, SB 21-078 lost-or-stolen reporting law, and SB 21-256 local-regulation law, SB 25-003 semiautomatic-firearm and rapid-fire-device law, HB 26-1144 three-dimensional-printing law, HB 24-1348 vehicle-storage law, HB 24-1174 concealed-carry training law, and the General Assembly’s firearms excise-tax summary.
Meet attorney Russell Hebets and learn about his Colorado criminal defense experience.
