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Legal Information: Colorado

Restraining Orders

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Updated: 
October 13, 2023

How will a judge make a decision about whether or not to grant the order?

A judge can issue a temporary or longer-term extreme risk protection order if s/he finds that the respondent poses a significant risk of causing personal injury to himself/herself or others in the near future by having a firearm in his/her custody or control, or by purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm.1 To decide whether the respondent poses a “significant risk,” a judge will consider multiple factors, including any evidence of the respondent’s:

  • recent act or credible threat of violence against himself/herself or others, even if the violence or threat of violence does not involve a firearm;
  • pattern of acts or credible threats of violence within the past year, including acts or threats of violence against himself/herself or others;
  • violation of a domestic violence protection order;
  • prior or current extreme risk protection orders and any violations of those orders;
  • conviction of a crime that included domestic violence;
  • ownership, access to, or intention to possess a firearm;
  • believable threat of, or illegal or reckless use of, a firearm;
  • history of use, attempted use, or threatened use of illegal physical force against another person;
  • history of stalking another person;
  • previous arrests for certain crimes;
  • abuse of drugs or alcohol;
  • requirement to possess, carry, or use a firearm as a condition of his/her employment; and
  • recent gaining of a firearm or ammunition.2

1 Colo. Stat. § 13-14.5-105(2)
2 Colo. Stat. § 13-14.5-105(3)