Inheriting a Firearm in Colorado: Permit, Report, Dealer and What the Code Says About Inheritance

Updated September 3, 2026. Quick answer: In Colorado, an ordinary heir does not need a state permit, licence or card to receive or possess the firearm, and the acquisition does not have to be reported to any state agency. Colorado does run a dealer-mediated background-check law for private transfers, but the law itself expressly exempts a transfer that happens by operation of law at death, or through an executor, administrator or trustee, which is exactly what an inheritance is. The statute does name it: a transfer that happens by operation of law at death, or through an executor, administrator or trustee, is written into the exemption in so many words. Every answer below is quoted from Colorado’s own code with the section named and linked, because this is a subject where being roughly right is not a category that exists.

What Colorado law settles, in four lines

What this covers. An ordinary estate transfer in Colorado: the person who died and the person inheriting are in the same state, and the firearm is an ordinary rifle, shotgun, pistol or revolver. Machine guns, suppressors, short-barrelled rifles and anything else registered under the National Firearms Act run on a separate federal track that is not this page, and neither is moving a firearm across a state line. The federal layer is set out separately.

Does the heir need a permit, licence or card

No. Colorado does not condition receiving or possessing an inherited firearm on a state permit, licence or card.

It is not an offense pursuant to this section if the defendant was: (a) A person in his or her own dwelling or place of business or on property owned or under his or her control at the time of the act of carrying;

Source: C.R.S. Title 18, Article 12 (Offenses Relating to Firearms & Weapons), read in full

Does anyone have to be told, and by when

No. Nothing in Colorado’s code requires the acquisition to be reported or registered with a state or local agency.

A transfer that occurs by operation of law or because of the death of a person for whom the prospective transferor is an executor or administrator of an estate or a trustee of a trust created in a will;

Source: C.R.S. 18-12-112(6)(c), read against Part 4 (Records) and Part 5 (Gun Shows) of Article 12

Does it have to go through a licensed dealer

Colorado does run a dealer-mediated background-check law for private transfers, but the law itself expressly exempts a transfer that happens by operation of law at death, or through an executor, administrator or trustee, which is exactly what an inheritance is. The claim that an inherited firearm always has to be transferred through a licensed dealer is not true as a flat statement in any state in this table.

The exemption itself, quoted:

On and after July 1, 2013, except as described in subsection (6) of this section, before any person who is not a licensed gun dealer, as defined in section 18-12-506 (6), transfers or attempts to transfer possession of a firearm to a transferee, he or she shall: (I) Require that a background check, in accordance with section 24-33.5-424, C.R.S., be conducted of the prospective transferee; and (II) Obtain approval of a transfer from the bureau after a background check has been requested by a licensed gun dealer, in accordance with section 24-33.5-424, C.R.S.

Source: C.R.S. 18-12-112(1)(a) and (6)(c)

What the code says about inheritance itself

The statute does name it: a transfer that happens by operation of law at death, or through an executor, administrator or trustee, is written into the exemption in so many words.

The exemption, quoted:

A transfer that occurs by operation of law or because of the death of a person for whom the prospective transferor is an executor or administrator of an estate or a trustee of a trust created in a will;

Source: C.R.S. 18-12-112(6)(c)

What this page does not tell you

• This is what the statute says, not what a court or a police department has done with it. No case law and no agency guidance was read. Where a code is silent, this page reports silence rather than filling it in.
• City and county rules sit on top and are not here. A local rule can add a step the state code does not mention.
• Who may possess is a separate question from how it transfers. A federal or state bar on possession (a felony conviction, a protective order, an involuntary commitment) attaches to the person and reaches an inherited firearm exactly as it reaches a bought one.
• A gun trust is a different mechanism and is covered separately. What a gun trust does and does not do is its own question, and it is mostly a federal one.
• This is general information, not legal advice. On this subject a wrong step is not a paperwork problem, so the sections are linked for you to read and a probate lawyer in the state is the right next call if anything here is close.

Sources

Every answer on this page comes out of a 51-jurisdiction table built from statute text. Colorado’s four cells are individually cited below.

All 51 jurisdictions are in the by-state table, with the same four cells for every state side by side.

General consumer information, not legal advice. State codes are as published by the cited source and change without notice; the statute and a lawyer in the state govern.