There are many different charges that can result from displaying a firearm in Fort Collins, Colorado. They range from a felony, like Menacing, to a low-level misdemeanor, like Disorderly Conduct. While, generally, the Fort Collins Police and Larimer County Sheriff will charge you with the most serious of the available charges when it comes to an event involving a gun, there are usually other criminal charges that fit the actions. Sometimes, that can be handy for an experienced criminal defense attorney, as they can negotiate a lesser plea, with fewer consequences. One such lesser plea for discharging or displaying a firearm is Disorderly Conduct.
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Navigate this blog: How is Disorderly Conduct Charged in Larimer County? Fort Collins / Loveland Penalty for Discharging or Displaying a Firearm |
How is Disorderly Conduct Charged in Larimer County?
The Larimer County, Colorado law definition of Disorderly Conduct – C.R.S. 18-9-106 – is:
(a) Makes a coarse and obviously offensive utterance, gesture, or display in a public place and the utterance, gesture, or display tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace; or
(b) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2000, p. 708, § 39, effective July 1, 2000.)
(c) Makes unreasonable noise in a public place or near a private residence that he has no right to occupy; or
(d) Fights with another in a public place except in an amateur or professional contest of athletic skill; or
(e) Not being a peace officer, discharges a firearm in a public place except when engaged in lawful target practice or hunting or the ritual discharge of blank ammunition cartridges as an attendee at a funeral for a deceased person who was a veteran of the armed forces of the United States; or
(f) Not being a peace officer, displays a real or simulated firearm, displays any article used or fashioned in a manner to cause a person to reasonably believe that the article is a firearm, or represents verbally or otherwise that he or she is armed with a firearm in a public place in a manner calculated to alarm and does alarm another person.
Subsections (e) and (f) are specifically related to firearms. Subsection (e) can be charged when a person discharges a firearm in a public place. Subsection (f) is charged when a person simply shows or displays a firearm in a public place and causes alarm.
Fort Collins / Loveland Penalty for Discharging or Displaying a Firearm
A charge for Disorderly Conduct – discharging a firearm – is a class 1 misdemeanor in Fort Collins and Loveland. The penalty for this level misdemeanor is up to 364 days in the Larimer County Jail and up to $1,000 in fines.
Disorderly Conduct – displaying a firearm – is a class 2 misdemeanor. This level misdemeanor is punishable by up to 120 days in the Larimer County Jail and up to $750 in fines.