Denver County Map

Keep in mind that Denver Mountain Parks also fall under the no OC rules of Denver. You could be 50 miles from Denver in one of those parks and carrying illegally :X.

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On this issue, the City's argument is supported by state law. C.R.S. §31-25-201 (2003) grants the City authority to establish, maintain and acquire lands for parkways, parks or recreational purposes. More specifically, in C.R.S. §31-25-216 (2003), a city and county is granted full police power and jurisdiction over extraterritorial parklands, of which Denver has a substantial collection. The State has not sought to regulate the City's policing of its own parks until the enactment of Senate Bill 25. Denver's park system is unique to it, especially with regard to its extensive system of mountain parks and parkways. Any need for uniformity is vastly outweighed by Denver's judgment that its citizens are safer without guns in the parks. There is no extraterritorial impact to this ordinance. Commuter routes typically do not traverse parklands, and it is not an unreasonable burden for visitors to Denver to inform themselves as to restrictions on guns in parks. The State has not shown any substantial interest in requiring a municipality to open its parks to all guns, as described above, the bare interest in uniformity is unconvincing. Therefore, based on the totality of the circumstance s, I conclude that the issue of open carry of firearms in parks is one of exclusive local concern. To the extent that C.R.S. 529-11.7-103 purports to preempt the Denver ordinance as it prohibits open carry in parks, I find beyond a reasonable doubt that it is unconstitutional.

However, the City's local concern for policing its own parks collides with the statewide statutory scheme governing carrying concealed handguns with a permit. The City has admitted that concealed carry is an area of mixed state and local concern. As stated above, the State's creation of uniform regulations on concealed carry predominates. Since the ordinance prohibiting all firearms in parks conflicts with the state statutes on concealed carry, the ordinance is preempted by state law only as to concealed handguns carried with a permit.

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