The following is a video transcript.
You must be 18 years old to purchase a long gun and 21 to purchase a handgun. There are no other practical differences between the purchase of a long gun and a handgun, so you will recognize many of the steps to that process. That is:
- You must be the legal age;
- Provide a Colorado ID; and
- Submit to a background check conducted by an FFL.
Once you have the long gun, you can lawfully possess it in your vehicle without a permit, but long guns must be unloaded while in your vehicle. This is different from handguns, which have no such requirement. You must also follow Colorado’s magazine restriction, which makes it illegal to possess a magazine that accepts more than 15 rounds of ammunition.
OPEN CARRY OF A LONG GUN
Open carry of long guns is the same as open carry for handguns.
I personally advise my own clients and U.S. LawShield members not to carry openly. It only takes one anti-2A person to claim you pointed the gun at them, and you’ll be facing a he said/she said situation while defending a criminal charge. It’s just not worth it.
That said, if you decide to exercise your right to carry openly, be mindful of municipalities like Denver and Boulder that prohibit open carry. These local laws—at least as to Denver—have been upheld against challenges under state law and the state constitution on the basis that a densely populated city has a local interest in preventing firearm injuries. Other cities, while not banning open carry outright, prohibit open carry in particular locations such as city buildings or city parks. State law allows cities to enact such laws banning open carry in public spaces, provided the city post signs at the public entrance of such spaces informing the public of the restriction.
If you have any questions about this or anything else, feel free to call me at my office. I’m always happy to speak with U.S. LawShield members.
Does your “illegal to possess a magazine that can carry more than 15 rounds” statement take into account the grandfathering of any such magazines possessed before July 1st 2013?
Good afternoon Mike, please see the following response from a Colorado Independent Program Attorney:
“A person may possess a large-capacity magazine only if he or she owned the large-capacity magazine on July 1, 2013 and maintained continuous possession of the large-capacity magazine. This is a defense that may be raised by a defendant, but does not immediately prevent law enforcement from pursuing a prosecution of the offense. Instead, if a person were to raise this defense after being charged, the prosecutor would then have the burden of refuting the assertion that the person owned the large-capacity magazine on July 1, 2013 and maintained continuous possession.”
Exactly what Mike said.
What is the difference, by Colorado Law, between a magazine and a magazine parts kit?
Hello Martin, please see the following response from the Colorado Independent Program Attorney:
“Magazine parts kits are not specifically addressed the Colorado large capacity magazine law. The law bans the transfer of LCM’s, but it says nothing about parts to repair or rebuild them, it only says magazines, and the definition of ‘magazine’ is:
(I) A fixed or detachable magazine, box, drum, feed strip, or similar device capable of accepting, or that is designed to be readily converted to accept, more than fifteen rounds of ammunition.
So, this clearly does not address the issue of parts to repair them, but nothing else in the statute gives any indication that they were attempting to outlaw the repair of legally owned magazines. So, what stores selling a ‘magazine parts kit’ are doing is pulling the magazine apart and into its base components—body, spring, follower, base plate—and selling those as a ‘kit’ to repair your legally owned magazine. Because in its ‘kit’ form, it is not functioning and can be used to repair a legally owned magazine, everyone looks the other way. However, once you assemble that ‘kit’ into a working magazine, it is clearly a violation of the LCM ban because it is a functional magazine that you did not own prior to 2013. Example: I’ve got some old 1970’s military surplus M16A1 20 round magazines that were beat up, I pulled them apart, cerakoted them, and bought a ‘rebuild kit’ from Brownells with a new spring and follower to repair the magazine. That is clearly within the bounds of the LCM law because I’m just repairing a magazine I already legally owned, and I’m coming out with the same number of magazines in the end; but if I bought a ‘kit’ that included everything, and I just put it all together, I’m coming out with more magazines than I started with, and once its fully assembled I’m clearly in violation of at least the spirit of the law.”
Thank you for answering.