Is Colorado a Constitutional Carry State? Permits, Limits, and Penalties

No, Colorado is not a constitutional carry state. If you want to carry a concealed handgun in public, you need a permit from the sheriff in your county of residence under Colorado’s shall-issue system.¹ Open carry is generally allowed without a permit, and you can keep a loaded handgun in your private vehicle for lawful protection without one, but putting a concealed handgun on your person in public without a permit is a crime.

People often confuse “no permit needed for open carry” with constitutional carry. They are not the same. A constitutional carry state would let you carry concealed without any license. Colorado does not.

What You Can Do Without a Permit

Two things are legal at the state level without any license.

You can openly carry a holstered handgun or a slung long gun in plain view. There is no state-level permit for open carry.² That statewide default is the piece that gets mistaken for constitutional carry.

You can also carry a handgun in your private vehicle, loaded, open or concealed, for lawful protection of yourself or another person or property. Colorado law carves this out as an explicit exception to the concealed-weapon offense.³ Long guns in a vehicle are treated differently under wildlife rules: the chamber must be unloaded, though the magazine can be loaded.²

The vehicle right is unusually solid. Even after the state gave local governments broad power over firearms in 2021, the legislature kept a carve-out that bars cities and counties from criminalizing travel with a firearm in a private vehicle, no matter how many stops you make.⁴

Getting a Concealed Handgun Permit

Colorado is shall-issue. If you meet every statutory requirement, the sheriff must grant your permit. There is no “good cause” test and no discretion to deny a qualified applicant.¹

To qualify, you must be a Colorado resident and at least 21. Active-duty military stationed in the state on permanent orders and their immediate family count as residents. You submit fingerprints that go to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for a background check, and you cannot have a felony conviction, an active protection order or extreme risk protection order against you, or be an unlawful user of controlled substances. You also need a certificate from a handgun training course completed within the past ten years, typically at least eight hours with a live-fire component. Current military service, competitive shooting participation, or a recent honorable discharge with pistol qualifications can also satisfy the training requirement.¹

The CBI background check costs $52.50. Sheriffs add their own processing fee, and total costs usually run between $100 and $150. Processing can take up to 90 days.⁵

Non-residents are generally out of luck. The only exception is active-duty military members stationed in Colorado and their immediate families.¹

Local Rules Can Change the Answer

Since 2021, Colorado has not had state preemption of firearms regulation. Senate Bill 21-256 declared firearms a matter of both state and local concern, which lets cities and counties pass their own rules as long as those rules are at least as strict as state law.⁶

The result is a patchwork. Boulder has banned open carry in public, along with assault weapons, large-capacity magazines, and ghost guns.⁷ Denver has maintained its own assault weapons restrictions since 1989. A holstered pistol that is legal in one unincorporated county area can get you cited a few miles later in the city next door. Before you carry openly anywhere in the state, check the local ordinance for every jurisdiction on your route. The vehicle carry rule is the one thing locals cannot override.⁴

Where Permit Holders Still Cannot Carry

A permit is not a universal pass. Several categories of locations are off-limits even if yours is current.

Schools

Your permit does not authorize carrying a handgun onto the grounds of any public elementary, middle, junior high, or high school. You may keep a handgun locked in a compartment inside your vehicle on school property, provided you are not carrying it on your person.⁸

Government Buildings With Screening

You cannot carry concealed into any public building that has permanent security personnel and electronic weapons screening at every entrance. The State Capitol is the common example.⁸

Sensitive Spaces Added in 2024

Effective July 1, 2024, Senate Bill 24-131 banned both open and concealed carry in state legislative buildings, local government buildings where elected officials have offices, courthouses, polling locations, central count facilities, and areas within 100 feet of ballot drop boxes during elections. The parking areas adjacent to those government buildings are also covered.⁹

Private Property

Property owners, tenants, employers, and businesses can prohibit firearms on their premises.⁸ At the state level, walking past a “no firearms” sign is not itself a crime, but refusing to leave when asked turns the situation into trespass. Some local jurisdictions have given those signs independent force with fines attached, so this is another spot where the local rule matters.

Penalties for Carrying Concealed Without a Permit

Carrying a concealed firearm in public without a valid permit is a class 1 misdemeanor. For offenses on or after March 1, 2022, that carries up to 364 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.³ The same handgun in a visible holster is generally legal at the state level; tucked under a jacket without a permit, it is a criminal offense.

A second weapons offense within five years of a prior conviction becomes a class 5 felony: one to three years in prison, a fine between $1,000 and $100,000, and two years of mandatory parole. The enhancement applies when the prior conviction was for unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon, possessing a defaced firearm, or prohibited use of weapons.¹⁰

The vehicle exception still applies. In your own car, carrying a handgun for lawful protection is not this offense even without a permit. The moment you step out of the vehicle with a concealed handgun and no permit, you are in a different legal situation.³

Who Cannot Possess a Firearm at All

Some people cannot possess a firearm in Colorado regardless of permit status. The prohibition reaches anyone convicted of a felony, or of attempting or conspiring to commit one, whether the conviction was under Colorado law, another state’s law, or federal law. It also covers people convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence as defined under federal law and juveniles adjudicated for acts that would be felonies if committed by an adult.¹¹

For permit purposes specifically, you are also ineligible if you are subject to an active protection order or extreme risk protection order, or if you chronically abuse alcohol to the extent it impairs your normal faculties. If your circumstances change after the sheriff issues your permit, the sheriff can revoke it.¹

1
Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Colorado Code 18-12-203 – Criteria for Obtaining a Permit
2
Department of Public Safety. Colorado Gun Laws
3
Justia Law. Colorado Code 18-12-105 – Unlawfully Carrying a Concealed Weapon – Unlawful Possession of Weapons
4
Justia Law. Colorado Code 18-12-105.6 – Limitation on Local Ordinances Regarding Firearms in Private Vehicles
5
Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Concealed Handgun Permit (CHP)
6
Colorado General Assembly. SB21-256 Local Regulation of Firearms
7
City of Boulder. Gun Violence Prevention Measures
8
Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Colorado Code 18-12-214 – Authority Granted by Permit – Carrying Restrictions
9
Colorado General Assembly. SB24-131 Prohibiting Carrying Firearms in Sensitive Spaces
10
Justia Law. Colorado Code 18-1.3-501 – Misdemeanors Classified – Penalties
11
Justia Law. Colorado Code 18-12-108 – Possession of Weapons by Previous Offenders