Where to take the Colorado firearms safety course: finding a sheriff-verified class

First, make sure you're doing the steps in the right order

You cannot start with the class. To enroll in a basic or extended firearms safety course at all, you must already hold a firearms safety course eligibility card issued by your county sheriff:

In order to enroll in a basic or extended firearms safety course, a person must hold a valid firearms safety course eligibility card.

If you don't have the card yet, start with the full card-and-course walkthrough and what the card costs in your county. Come back here when you're ready to pick a class.

Find a verified instructor by county

The statute puts instructor verification in the hands of each county sheriff and creates no statewide roster. In practice, Colorado Parks & Wildlife publishes one anyway — a single spreadsheet of verified instructors, linked from its specified semiautomatic firearms page. It is the real list, but it arrives unsorted, with counties spelled inconsistently, some rows blank, and 9 people listed more than once — which makes "who is verified near me?" harder to answer than it should be.

Below is that same public list, by county, retrieved 2026-09-02. Nothing here is our own vetting: the sheriffs verify instructors, CPW publishes them, and we sort them.

• Adams 37
• Alamosa 2
• Arapahoe 40
• Archuleta 4
• Boulder 13
• Broomfield 8
• Chaffee 6
• Conejos 2
• Costilla 1
• Crowley 1
• Custer 3
• Delta 4
• Denver 9
• Douglas 26
• Eagle 3
• El Paso 44
• Elbert 8
• Fremont 6
• Garfield 4
• Huerfano 2
• Jefferson 18
• Kit Carson 2
• La Plata 10
• Lake 1
• Larimer 28
• Las Animas 2
• Lincoln 1
• Logan 2
• Mesa 9
• Mineral 1
• Moffat 1
• Montezuma 5
• Montrose 3
• Morgan 5
• Otero 3
• Ouray 1
• Park 10
• Prowers 1
• Pueblo 19
• Rio Blanco 1
• Rio Grande 3
• Routt 1
• Saguache 1
• San Juan 1
• San Miguel 1
• Summit 2
• Teller 1
• Weld 37

48 of Colorado's 64 counties have at least one instructor on the state roster; 16 have none listed yet. The instructor must be sheriff-verified, not local to you — if your county is empty, look at a neighboring one.

Instructors whose roster entry names no county

13 entries on the state list have a blank or unreadable county field. They are verified instructors — the county cell just doesn't say where. We list them rather than guess a county for them:

Other places worth asking

• Your county sheriff's office. Sheriffs do the verifying, so they are the authoritative local answer — and the first to know about someone verified since CPW last updated the list.
• Colorado Parks & Wildlife. CPW runs the Firearms Safety System (the application portal that opened July 20, 2026) and maintains the official specified semiautomatic firearms page.
• Hunter education instructors. CPW's hunter-ed network overlaps heavily with the firearms-training community — and if you complete hunter education, only the 4-hour Basic course applies to you instead of the 12-hour Extended course.
• Established firearms training schools. Colorado's existing concealed-carry training schools are natural candidates to run compliant courses — but a CCW class is not automatically an SB25-003 course. Vet them against the checklist below before paying.

The six things a compliant class must have

All of these come straight from the statute. A provider missing any one of them cannot get you to a lawful purchase, no matter what their ad says:

A basic firearms safety course and an extended firearms safety course must be taught by an instructor verified by a sheriff as a firearms instructor ... must be held in person ... and no part of the class may be conducted via the internet. ... (III)(A) A basic firearms safety course must provide a minimum of four hours of instruction. (B) An extended firearms safety course must provide a minimum of twelve hours of instruction, which must be provided on at least two different days.

Red flags

Expect a supply crunch around August 1

The purchase rule took effect August 1, 2026, and the state's application system only opened July 20 — so the pool of card-holders is days old, and verified-instructor capacity is still building county by county. The Extended course's two-day minimum makes scheduling slower still. If you can't find a seat immediately, that is a supply problem, not a sign you're exempt: the requirement applies from August 1 regardless of local class availability. (Firearms you already own are unaffected — SB25-003 is not a possession ban.)

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For instructors: you may already be listed

If CPW's roster carries your name, you are already on your county's page above — free, with nothing to sign up for. Claim your listing to add or correct your website, and to get the "Sheriff-Verified Instructor" badge for your own site. Want off the list instead? Say so and it comes down within 72 hours.

If you teach in Colorado but aren't on CPW's list yet, the verification pathway runs through your county sheriff, and your course must meet the six statutory requirements above. Once the state adds you, this page picks you up on its next weekly refresh.

Common questions

Is there an official statewide list of verified SB25-003 instructors?

Yes, in practice — though not because the statute requires one. SB25-003 makes each county sheriff responsible for verifying firearms instructors and creates no statewide roster, but Colorado Parks & Wildlife publishes a list of verified instructors anyway, linked from its specified semiautomatic firearms page. It is a single unsorted spreadsheet; the county-by-county version above is that same list, reorganized. Your county sheriff remains the authoritative source for anyone verified since CPW last updated it.

I have a Colorado concealed-carry permit — do I still need the safety course?

Yes, for buying a specified semiautomatic firearm. The exceptions in C.R.S. § 18-12-116(3) cover law enforcement, military service members, dealers and gunsmiths, higher-education programs, estate transfers, and the course pathway itself — holding a CCW permit is not among them. A CCW class also doesn't substitute: the SB25-003 course has its own curriculum, hour minimums, exam, and sheriff-verified-instructor requirement.

Can I take the firearms safety course online?

No. The statute says no part of the class may be conducted via the internet. Any provider advertising an online or partially-online SB25-003 course is offering something that cannot support a lawful purchase.

How much does the class itself cost?

Tuition is set by the private instructor or school — the statute doesn't cap it. Separately, the eligibility card carries a $52 state fee plus a county sheriff processing fee that varies by county; see the county-by-county cost breakdown.

What if there are no classes available in my county before August 1?

The purchase requirement still applies — August 1, 2026 is written into the statute and doesn't flex with local class availability. You may need to travel to another county (the statute requires the instructor to be sheriff-verified, not that the class be in your home county) or wait for capacity to build. Firearms you already own are unaffected.

Does hunter education count instead of the safety course?

Not by itself — but it shortens the requirement. With a CPW-certified hunter education certificate, you need only the 4-hour Basic course (within five years before purchase) instead of the 12-hour Extended course.