Colorado Handgun Laws for Non-Residents: Carry, Magazines, Self-Defense

Colorado handgun laws for non-residents turn on three things: whether your home-state permit is recognized, what equipment you brought, and where you plan to go while armed. Colorado honors concealed carry permits from 34 other states, but only if the permit was issued by the state where you actually live and you are at least 21. Without a recognized permit, you can still keep a handgun in your private vehicle, and you can generally open carry outside a handful of cities that ban it. Magazines over 15 rounds are illegal for almost every visitor.

Will Colorado Honor Your Concealed Carry Permit

Colorado recognizes concealed handgun permits from 34 states as of 2026. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation maintains the current list, and you should check it before you leave home because agreements change.¹

The catch that trips up visitors: the permit has to come from the state you actually live in. Colorado matches the issuing state against the state of residence on your driver’s license or state ID.² If you live in Montana but carry a Utah non-resident permit, that Utah permit does you no good in Colorado. Your Montana resident permit is the one that counts.

While you are armed, keep both your permit and a government-issued photo ID on you. Officers can verify your permit through federal databases during any encounter, and failing to produce these documents can lead to your firearm being seized.¹ Carrying concealed without a permit Colorado recognizes is a class 1 misdemeanor with possible jail time and fines.³

Colorado is not a duty-to-inform state. During a traffic stop you do not have to volunteer that you have a firearm, though you must produce the permit if asked.

Carrying in Your Vehicle Without a Permit

If your home-state permit does not qualify, you still have one option. Any adult who can legally possess a handgun may carry one inside a private vehicle in Colorado, permit or no permit. The gun can be loaded and within reach. It can sit in the glove box, in the center console, or in plain view on the seat. Under the statute, a handgun in a private vehicle is not considered concealed.²

That protection ends when you step out of the car. Once the handgun is on your person and concealed, you need a permit Colorado recognizes. Moving the gun from your vehicle to a hotel room is safest done with the handgun unloaded and in a locked case.

Open Carry and Local Bans

State law generally allows open carry of a handgun without a permit. Local governments, however, can prohibit open carry inside their jurisdictions, and several have.⁴ Denver has long banned open carry inside city limits. Other municipalities have adopted their own restrictions.

When a local government bans open carry in a building or area, the law requires signs at public entrances.⁵ Criminal penalties under a local ordinance apply only to someone who knew or reasonably should have known the conduct was prohibited.⁴ Watch for signage and look up rules for the cities on your route. Signage alone is a thin safety net.

Where You Cannot Carry at All

Some locations are off-limits even with a valid permit.

Public buildings with permanent security screening at every entrance, such as courthouses and state legislative offices, are closed to concealed carry.⁶
K-12 school grounds. Bringing a firearm onto public or private school property is a class 6 felony. Permit holders may keep a handgun in a locked vehicle in a closed compartment on school grounds, but not on their person.⁷
Federal property. Post offices, VA hospitals, and federal courthouses prohibit firearms on the premises and in their parking lots, and violations carry mandatory minimum sentences.⁸
The General Assembly’s chambers, galleries, offices, and hearing rooms. Carrying without authority in or near them is a separate offense.³

Private Property and No-Guns Signs

Colorado does not give a “No Guns Allowed” sign the force of law by itself. Walking past one while armed is not automatically criminal. But once an owner or employee discovers you are armed and asks you to leave, refusing turns into third-degree criminal trespass, a petty offense. Treat the signs as binding in practice.

The 15-Round Magazine Limit

Colorado bans the sale, transfer, and possession of magazines that hold more than 15 rounds for firearms other than shotguns. The only carve-out is for magazines owned before July 1, 2013, and kept in continuous possession since.⁹ A visitor almost certainly cannot claim it. If your everyday carry magazine holds 16 rounds or more, leave it home and bring a compliant one.

Possession of a banned magazine is a class 2 misdemeanor. Possession during a felony or violent crime bumps the charge to a class 6 felony.⁹ Some cities go lower. Boulder caps capacity at 10 rounds. Check the ordinances of the places you plan to visit.

Unserialized Firearms

Colorado also prohibits possessing, manufacturing, or transporting unserialized firearms, frames, and receivers. Possession is a class 1 misdemeanor; selling or transferring is a class 5 felony.¹⁰ A homemade firearm or a gun built from a parts kit needs a serial number before it crosses the state line. Firearms made before October 22, 1968, and antique firearms are exempt.

Who Can Possess a Handgun in the First Place

You must be at least 21 to possess a handgun as a visitor. Colorado raised the minimum age in 2023, with narrow exceptions for active military and certified peace officers.¹¹ Anyone convicted of a felony under Colorado, federal, or another state’s law cannot possess a firearm in Colorado; violating that ban is a class 5 felony carrying one to three years in prison and fines from $1,000 to $100,000.¹² Federal law separately bars anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence from possessing firearms anywhere in the United States.¹³

Buying or Borrowing a Handgun While You’re Here

Non-residents cannot buy handguns in Colorado. Federal law requires any handgun purchase to go through a licensed dealer in your state of residence.¹³ You can buy a long gun from a Colorado dealer, but a three-day waiting period applies from the moment the background check is initiated.¹⁴

Colorado’s universal background check law also covers private transfers, but there are exceptions that matter to visitors. A background check is not required when the owner stays physically present the whole time the other person has the gun, when the borrower is lawfully hunting or target shooting with any required license, when the transfer happens at a qualifying range, or for any temporary loan of up to 72 hours. In every case the borrower must be legally allowed to possess a firearm, and a lender in a 72-hour loan can still be liable for resulting damages.¹⁵

If You Have to Defend Yourself

Colorado’s self-defense rules split along one line: are you inside a dwelling, or not.

Inside a Dwelling (Make My Day)

Colorado’s Make My Day statute lets an occupant use any degree of force, up to and including deadly force, against someone who has made an unlawful entry, when the occupant reasonably believes the intruder has committed or intends to commit a crime beyond the entry itself and might use any physical force against an occupant. A person who meets all three conditions is immune from criminal prosecution and civil liability.¹⁶

One point for travelers: “dwelling” under this statute does not include vehicles. Sleeping in your car or an RV likely puts you outside Make My Day and back under the general self-defense rules.

Outside the Home

Colorado has no duty to retreat. You may stand your ground and use reasonable force to defend yourself or another person from what you reasonably believe is unlawful physical force.¹⁷ Deadly force is justified only when a lesser degree of force would be inadequate and you face imminent death or serious bodily injury, or when the other person is committing or about to commit kidnapping, robbery, sexual assault, or a serious assault.

Unlike Make My Day, there is no automatic presumption that your fear was reasonable. A jury decides. You can use reasonable non-deadly force to stop theft or property damage, but deadly force in defense of property alone is not legal; it must also be a defense of a person against serious harm.¹⁸

1
Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Concealed Handgun Permit (CHP) Reciprocity
2
Justia. Colorado Code 18-12-214 – Authority Granted by Permit – Carrying Restrictions – Local Authority
3
Justia. Colorado Code 18-12-105 – Unlawfully Carrying a Concealed Weapon – Unlawful Possession of Weapons
4
Justia. Colorado Code 29-11.7-103 – Local Regulations Governing Firearms Permitted
5
FindLaw. Colorado Code 29-11.7-104 – Regulation – Carrying – Posting
6
Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Colorado Code 18-12-214 – Authority Granted by Permit – Carrying Restrictions
7
Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Colorado Code 18-12-105.5 – Unlawfully Carrying a Weapon – School, College, or University Grounds
8
United States Postal Service. Poster 158 – Possession of Firearms and Other Dangerous Weapons on Postal Service Property
9
Justia. Colorado Code 18-12-302 – Large-Capacity Magazines Prohibited – Penalties – Exceptions
10
Justia. Colorado Code Title 18, Article 12, Part 1 – Section 18-12-111.5 – Unlawful Conduct Involving an Unserialized Firearm, Frame, or Receiver
11
Colorado General Assembly. SB23-169 – Increasing Minimum Age To Purchase Firearms
12
Justia. Colorado Code 18-12-108 – Possession of Weapons by Previous Offenders
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts
14
Colorado General Assembly. HB23-1219 – Waiting Period To Deliver A Firearm
15
Justia. Colorado Code 18-12-112 – Private Firearms Transfers – Background Check Required – Penalty – Exceptions
16
Justia. Colorado Code 18-1-704.5 – Use of Deadly Physical Force Against an Intruder
17
Justia. Colorado Code 18-1-704 – Use of Physical Force in Defense of a Person
18
Justia. Colorado Code 18-1-706 – Use of Physical Force in Defense of Property