In 2025, Colorado enacted a law to increase oversight and safety at gun shows. The law requires gun show promoters to implement comprehensive security plans—including surveillance, secure storage, and liability insurance coverage—and to coordinate with local law enforcement. It also reaffirms an existing mandate on background checks for all gun sales and prohibits unaccompanied minors from attending.¹ See the Colorado Universal Background Checks section for further information.

A separate provision of Colorado law requires all firearms transfers at gun shows to be processed by a licensed firearms dealer.² Prospective purchasers are subject to the same background check process that applies to retail firearms transfers and processing dealers must record the transfer and retain the records in the same manner as with retail transfers (see the Colorado Background Checks  and Dealer Regulations sections).³

Firearms dealers may charge a fee of up to $10 for conducting the background check, and gun show promoters must prominently post a notice setting forth the requirement for a background check.⁴ These provisions do not apply to the transfer of antique firearms or curios or relics, as defined under federal law.⁵

Colorado law defines a gun show as:

“[T]he entire premises provided for an event or function, including, but not limited to, parking areas for the event or function, except for adjacent street parking, that is sponsored to facilitate, in whole or in part, the purchase, sale, offer for sale, or collection of firearms at which: (1) twenty-five or more firearms are offered or publicly exhibited for sale, transfer, or exchange; or (2) not less than three gun show vendors publicly exhibit or sell, offer for sale, transfer, or exchange firearms.”¹