Colorado Concealed Carry Law: Permits, Training, and Restrictions

Colorado concealed carry law requires a permit issued by your county sheriff before you can carry a concealed handgun in public. Colorado is a shall-issue state, so the sheriff must grant the permit if you meet every statutory requirement, and Colorado has not adopted permitless or constitutional carry. The rules on who qualifies, what training counts, where you still cannot carry, and how your permit travels are specific enough that a single oversight can turn into a denial or a criminal charge.

Who Qualifies for a Permit

You must be at least 21 years old and a legal resident of Colorado. For most applicants, residency is proven with a Colorado driver’s license or state ID showing a current address. Active-duty military members stationed in Colorado under permanent orders qualify as residents, and so do their immediate family members living in the state.¹

Several categories of people are disqualified. A felony conviction bars firearm possession under federal law and automatically ends your permit eligibility, as does any misdemeanor conviction involving domestic violence, which federal law treats as a permanent firearms disqualifier.² Colorado also specifically disqualifies anyone convicted of perjury on a prior permit application.¹

You cannot hold a permit while subject to any active protection order, whether temporary or permanent. That includes domestic abuse protection orders, harassment protection orders, and extreme risk protection orders.¹ Federal law separately prohibits firearm possession by anyone involuntarily committed to a mental institution or adjudicated mentally incompetent.³

Habitual alcohol use that impairs your normal abilities is a disqualifier, and sheriffs typically look at multiple alcohol-related convictions within a defined period. Unlawful use of or addiction to a controlled substance also ends your eligibility, judged by federal standards.¹

Marijuana Use Is a Federal Problem

This is where Colorado residents get caught most often. Recreational and medical marijuana are legal under state law, but marijuana remains a federally controlled substance, and federal law prohibits any unlawful user of a controlled substance from possessing firearms.⁴ Because the federal background check enforces that prohibition, regular marijuana use can disqualify you from receiving a firearm and from obtaining or keeping a Colorado permit.¹ The ATF’s federal purchase form asks about controlled substance use, and answering untruthfully is a federal felony. Sheriffs lean on federal criteria when weighing controlled substance use during permit review.

The Training Requirement

You have to finish an approved handgun training course before you apply. Colorado requires at least eight hours of in-person instruction, and no part of the course can be delivered online.⁵ The curriculum covers safe handling and storage, Colorado and federal firearms law, self-defense and use of deadly force, techniques for avoiding criminal confrontations, extreme risk protection orders, and reporting requirements for lost or stolen firearms.

The course ends with two tests. You must fire at least 50 rounds in a live-fire exercise with 70 percent accuracy, and you must pass an open-book written exam with a score of at least 80 percent.⁵ Acceptable courses include those offered by law enforcement agencies and classes taught by state-verified instructors at firearms training schools or other organizations open to the public. Your instructor issues a training certificate that goes in with your application.

How to Apply, What It Costs, How Long It Takes

You file with the sheriff’s office in your county of residence. Most offices require an appointment. Staff will take a full set of fingerprints for a background check run through both the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the FBI.⁶ Bring your Colorado driver’s license or state ID, your training certificate, and the application form. Many sheriff’s offices accept online applications through third-party platforms, but fingerprinting still happens in person.

The CBI charges $52.50 for a new application, covering the state and federal background check costs.⁷ Your sheriff adds a separate administrative fee that varies by county, so total out-of-pocket cost generally runs between $75 and $150. All fees are non-refundable, even if your application is denied.

Once the sheriff has your completed application, fingerprints, and fee, a 90-day statutory clock starts. The sheriff must approve or deny within that window. If the FBI fingerprint results have not come back in 90 days, the sheriff must decide without them; if those results later reveal a disqualifier, the sheriff revokes the permit.⁸

A denial has to come in writing and state the specific legal grounds. The notice also tells you about your right to request a second review from the sheriff, submit additional documentation, and seek judicial review in court.⁸ You can go straight to court without asking for the sheriff’s second review first. At the judicial review hearing, the sheriff carries the burden of proof. The court can award attorney fees to whichever side wins.⁹

Keeping Your Permit Valid

A Colorado permit is good for five years from the date of issuance. Start the renewal process before it expires, because carrying on an expired permit is not legal. If your permit has been expired for fewer than six months, you can still renew, though a late fee typically applies. If it has been expired longer than that, most sheriffs make you file a full new application.

The CBI renewal fee is $13.00, with the sheriff’s office adding its own administrative charge.⁷ You must complete a refresher training course before renewing. The refresher follows the same in-person, verified-instructor structure as the initial course and produces a certificate you submit with your renewal paperwork.⁵

Where Your Permit Does Not Let You Carry

The permit is not a universal pass. Several categories of locations remain off-limits, and ignoring them can cost you the permit or lead to criminal charges.

Public K-12 Schools

State law prohibits permit holders from carrying a concealed handgun into any public elementary, middle, junior high, or high school building. You can keep a handgun in your vehicle on school property, but it must be stored securely and the vehicle locked if you leave it unattended.¹⁰ School security officers employed or contracted by a school district who hold a permit are exempt while on duty. Permit holders may also carry on undeveloped school district land used for hunting or shooting sports.

Federal law layers on top. The Gun-Free School Zones Act generally prohibits possessing a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school but exempts people licensed by the state where the school sits, as long as the state requires a background check before issuing the license.⁴ A Colorado permit satisfies that exception, so the 1,000-foot perimeter does not apply to you. The school building itself still does.

Secured Public Buildings

Your permit does not authorize carrying into any public building where security personnel and electronic screening devices are permanently stationed at every entrance and everyone entering is screened for weapons. Courthouses and certain government buildings are the common examples. If the building meets all three conditions, you leave your firearm with security or do not bring it.¹¹

Federal Property

Post offices, federal courthouses, Social Security offices, and other federal buildings are no-carry zones under federal law regardless of your state permit. National parks and national forests generally follow state law for firearm possession, so your Colorado permit covers you on trails and in campgrounds. Any building inside a park or forest, including visitor centers, ranger stations, and fee collection offices, is a federal facility and off-limits. Those buildings are supposed to be marked at every public entrance.

Private Property

Business owners and private property owners can prohibit firearms. If a business posts signage banning weapons and you enter while carrying, you can be asked to leave. Refusing to leave after being asked may bring trespassing charges.

Penalties

If you carry into a state-prohibited location like a school building or a secured public building, your permit exemption no longer protects you and you face a class 2 misdemeanor, carrying up to 120 days in county jail.¹² Local government ordinances restricting concealed carry in other locations can only impose civil penalties, and a first violation cannot exceed $50.¹⁰

Carrying Without a Permit

Carrying a concealed firearm in public without a valid permit is a class 2 misdemeanor, punishable by up to 120 days in jail.¹² Exceptions apply if you are on your own property, at your place of business, or traveling in a private vehicle for lawful protection. The vehicle exception lets you carry a loaded handgun without a permit as long as it is for the lawful protection of yourself or others, but it ends the moment you leave the car on foot.

Other Rules That Still Apply

Magazine Capacity

Colorado caps magazine capacity at 15 rounds. Selling, transferring, or possessing a larger magazine is a class 2 misdemeanor for a first offense, with up to 120 days in jail. A second violation is a class 1 misdemeanor, and possessing a large-capacity magazine while committing a felony or crime of violence is a class 6 felony.¹³ The cap applies to everyone, permit or not. If you are buying a handgun for carry, check that any included magazines comply.

Open Carry

Colorado has no statewide ban on openly carrying a firearm, but open carry is regulated by local governments, so cities and counties set their own rules.¹⁴ Denver, for example, has long prohibited open carry within city limits. Check the local ordinance before you openly carry anywhere. Your concealed carry permit gives you no special status under open carry rules.

On the concealed side, state law preempts local governments from passing ordinances that conflict with the statewide permit system.¹¹ A city cannot require a separate local permit or add conditions beyond state law, though it can still designate specific buildings or areas where concealed carry is restricted, backed by civil penalties.

Extreme Risk Protection Orders

Colorado’s red flag law lets a court temporarily prohibit someone from possessing firearms and require surrender of any concealed carry permits. A family member, household member, law enforcement officer, or certain other qualifying individuals can file a petition. If a judge finds clear and convincing evidence that the respondent poses a significant risk of harming themselves or others by possessing firearms, a full order can last up to 364 days.¹⁵ An active ERPO ends your carry permit.

Duty to Inform

Colorado does not require you to proactively tell a police officer that you are carrying during a traffic stop or other encounter. No concealed carry statute imposes that duty. If an officer directly asks whether you are armed, answer truthfully. Lying to law enforcement during an official contact creates problems that reach well past your permit.

Traveling With Your Colorado Permit

Colorado recognizes concealed carry permits from any state that also recognizes Colorado permits, with no formal agreement required between agencies. Two conditions apply to the visiting permit holder: you must be at least 21, and you must be a resident of the state that issued the permit, demonstrated by a valid photo ID from that state.¹⁶ A narrow exception covers recent arrivals: if you have been a Colorado resident for no more than 90 days, measured by when your Colorado ID was issued, your out-of-state permit still works here.

Going the other direction, verify reciprocity before you cross any state line with a Colorado permit. The list of states honoring Colorado permits changes periodically, and some states impose extra conditions like minimum age or training standards that may not match Colorado’s. Carrying in a state that does not recognize your permit can lead to criminal charges and firearm seizure.

1
Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Colorado Code 18-12-203 – Criteria for Obtaining a Permit
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Colorado Bureau of Investigation. State and Federal Firearm Prohibitors
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Federal Bureau of Investigation. About NICS
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts
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Justia Law. Colorado Code 18-12-202.5 – Concealed Handgun Training Class – Refresher Class – Rules
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Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Firearms – Concealed Handgun Permit
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Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Concealed Handgun Permit
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Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Colorado Code 18-12-206 – Sheriff – Issuance or Denial of Permit
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Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Colorado Code 18-12-207 – Judicial Review – Permit Denial – Permit Suspension – Permit Revocation
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Justia Law. Colorado Code 18-12-214 – Authority Granted by Permit – Carrying Restrictions – Local Authority
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Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Colorado Code 18-12-214 – Authority Granted by Permit – Carrying Restrictions
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Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Colorado Code 18-12-105 – Unlawfully Carrying a Concealed Weapon
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Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Colorado Code 18-12-302 – Large-Capacity Magazines Prohibited – Penalties – Exceptions
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Colorado Department of Public Safety. Colorado Gun Laws
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Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Extreme Risk Protection Orders
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Justia Law. Colorado Code 18-12-213 – Reciprocity