(1) A person commits disorderly conduct if he or she intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly:
(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.
(2) Repealed.
(3) (a) An offense pursuant to subsection (1)(a) or (1)(c) of this section is a
petty offense; except that, if the offense is committed with intent to disrupt, impair,
or interfere with a funeral, or with intent to cause severe emotional distress to a
person attending a funeral, it is a class 2 misdemeanor.
(b) An offense pursuant to subsection (1)(d) of this section is a petty offense.
(c) An offense pursuant to subsection (1)(f) of this section is a class 2
misdemeanor.
(d) An offense pursuant to subsection (1)(e) of this section is a class 1
misdemeanor.
(2) In 2006, subsection (3) was amended by the Right to Rest in Peace Act.
For the title and legislative declaration, see section 1 of chapter 262, Session Laws
of Colorado 2006.
L. 71: R&RE, p. 467, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 40-9-106. L. 72: p. 275, § 8. L. 81: (1)(a) amended, p. 1010, § 1, effective April 24. L. 2000: IP(1), (1)(b), and (1)(f) amended, pp. 696, 708, §§ 11, 39, effective July 1. L. 2006: (3) amended, p. 1198, § 3, effective May 26; (2) repealed, p. 1493, § 21, effective June 1. L. 2014: (1)(e) amended, (HB 14-1059), ch. 22, p. 153, § 1, effective March 7. L. 2021: (1)(f) and (3) amended, (SB 21-271), ch. 462, p. 3201, § 308, effective March 1, 2022.
In Snyder v. Phelps, 562 U.S. 443 (2011), the United States Supreme Court held that the first amendment shielded military funeral protesters from tort liability for their picketing because the picketing constituted speech on matters of public concern and because the father of the deceased was not a member of a captive audience.
(1) For affirmative defenses generally, see §§ 18-1-407, 18-1-710, and 18-1-805.
