New Colorado Concealed Carry Law and Implications

In June 2024 Governor Polis signed into law HB24-1174 which will go into effect on July 1st, 2025.

Image courtesy of Colorado Ceasefire

This law will change several key elements of the concealed carry training standards and processes we’ve been practicing in Colorado since 2003. Before I dive into the details I want to note a few important things.

First, this law doesn’t go into effect until July 1st, 2025. That means that up until that date you can take any existing class (that doesn’t meet the future requirements) and still apply for your permit. Similarly, if your permit is to expire before the new law goes into effect you can renew it without taking a certified renewal class as outlined by the new law.

Second, this law is going to make it less convenient and more expensive for people to get a concealed carry permit. This will lead to people feeling more intimidated and will ultimately mean less people will go through the process. This is heartbreaking. I strongly urge anyone who has an interest to please take the time and make the commitment to go through the necessary training to legally obtain the permit.

What follows is a rough summary of the changes that this law will impose:

Currently: Almost any firearm safety class taught by a certified instructor qualifies the student to apply for a concealed handgun permit. No live fire or test is required and no specific number of hours or length of class is specified by law. Further, in order to apply one needed to show having completed such a class in the previous 10 years.

With the new law: In order to qualify to apply for a permit, the class must run no less than 8 hours (it doesn’t have to be consecutive). Further, the class must include both a live fire qualification as well as a written test. The written test MUST be open book, and the live fire test must consist of no less than 50 rounds fired. There isn’t any specificity as to what these tests look like beyond a minimum score though since it would seem the instructor can define both the test and the scoring method it doesn’t really matter. One must show having completed such a class in the previous year.

Currently: Permits expire every 5 years and when renewing the permittee needs to demonstrate they have completed a qualifying class in the past 10 years.

With the new law: Those wishing to renew their permit must complete a “concealed carry renewal class” or the standard new concealed carry class in the 6 months prior to submitting the renewal application.

The new law also has a new verification process for instructors like me to get verified by a county sheriff and the county sheriff will be required to post a list of all verified instructors in their county online.