Colorado Gun Laws

[G Man]

The Colorado Attorney General did issue scant guidance a few weeks ago but it wasn't much help.

First a gun rights attorney friend of mine advised that in his opinion if you owned a magazine that holds more than 15 rounds before July first regardless of where you lived at that time it's legal for you to bring it to Colorado as long as you don't attempt to transfer that magazine while you're here.

The Colorado Sheriffs’ (all but about 5 of them) are in the middle of a federal lawsuit with the state over this law. The state and sheriff's stipulated to enforcement guidelines this week while waiting for the suit to go to trial. With that settled (at least until after Labor Day) I'm now totally comfortable in saying we won't have any problems holding the 2013 AZSA World Championship match.

The county sheriffs of both of Adams County (where we shoot) and Arapahoe County (where the nearest motels are located) are both a party to this lawsuit so I see no problems during the events. If you’re driving in for the match I would say you’re golden. Just remember that when the nice policeman asks “you wouldn’t have any objections to my searching you’re car” the answer is always “Yes Sir I do object, you do not have my permission to search my property without a warrant.”

On the other hand if you plan to fly in through the Peoples Republic of Denver some additional precautions may be in order. Flying into Denver with your magazines poses no real issues as you'll just be picking up your luggage and leaving the airport. When you leave you’ll have to declare your guns and you then have TSA/DPD to deal with as your flying back out.

I'll offer two options that I believe will work. One, mail your magazines back to yourself after the match and fly home with just your guns. This is all perfectly legal and only meant to avoid any delays with the uninformed when you check your guns onto the aircraft. Two, if you would rather not deal with any questions away from the range (where we’ll be able to easily answer them for you) we each have several magazines we all personally own (I have 2 drums and several 30 Rd. sticks to loan, first come, first serve) that we can just loan to any of you during the day and get them back each night during the match.
Before you ask,

I would foresee potential issues mailing magazines to one of us before the match and then mailing them back out after the match. No, neither of us intend it to be a transfer but we all know common sense and the law are many times mutually exclusive.