Colorado Gun Range Under Fire for Requiring Background Check To Shoot

When you buy a gun, especially in a state with universal background checks, you've shown you're a law-abiding citizen. Criminals don't do it, mind you, but that's a point that gets ignored all the time.

So what happens when you go to a gun range for a particular event or class, only to have the range tell you that you have to submit to a background check just to shoot your gun?

That's what one shooter and Second Amendment advocate reported happening at a Colorado range.

Last week I asked if you would be okay with consenting to a background check to shoot at a shooting range.

I asked because this is exactly what I was told to do at Liberty Firearms Institute in Johnstown, Colorado.

My USCCA pistol qualification was hosted there and upon my… pic.twitter.com/rPJdO2uglV

— Alicia Garcia (@boomstickbabe) March 10, 2026

My USCCA pistol qualification was hosted there and upon my arrival (I drove almost 2 hours to get there) and was given this form to complete consenting to a background check just to shoot the pistol qualification on property.

In typical Alicia Garcia fashion, I said how absolutely ridiculous this was and that it’s a violation of privacy.  I was going to refuse, however I felt I should do it for the full experience of being the test subject for public consumption and report back.

Of course they gave me grief for some items on my background check (I was a scrappy little brat in my early 20s but was never convicted of any violence) and of course I was given a hard time and asked if I’m able to purchase a gun.  I said ‘I bought a gun yesterday’.

The female I spoke to was proud to say how she negotiated these terms with the city because they don’t want people in their gun range who are not upstanding members of society.

I mentioned how eager I was to mention this on my radio show, which I did this morning.  Upon mentioning this on air, my phone and the phone lines of other 2A organizations blew up with inquiries as to why and how this is happening.  

It was also a surprise to me that some ‘gun people’ said ‘they can do whatever they want it’s their business’.  

Here is some information I have gathered thus far about this issue:

LFI’s own non‑member agreement states: “To ensure the safety of LFI members and guests, we require that everyone successfully complete a background check.”  It frames the check as a safety and liability measure and authorizes them to review criminal history and other public records for “membership purposes.”

On their “First Time at LFI?” page, they list a “one‑time 10 instant background check” as part of the check‑in process before you shoot, again treating it as a standard house rule rather than citing a statute or ordinance.  Their waiver also notes “One-time background check fee per each shooter 18+ going on the range,” which reinforces that this is a recurring operational policy.

A 2016 Reddit discussion reports a customer being told by staff that “the city of Johnstown mandated this condition for them to establish the range,” but another commenter—apparently familiar with range practices—states there is “no kind of regulations requiring you to pass a background check to shoot,” and suggests LFI does this to “cover their asses” and avoid public scrutiny if a prohibited person later commits a crime.  This is anecdotal, not an official city or state source, and no citation to a Johnstown ordinance is provided.

Johnstown municipal code and other official city documents available online do not show a specific ordinance requiring commercial shooting ranges to run background checks on all shooters for lane use.  Public range-practice guidance (for example, national range resources) also notes that NICS checks are legally tied to firearm transfers, not to simple range access; some private clubs choose to run their own membership checks as an added screening step.

My sources and I will be looking into this further and I encourage everyone to comment and express your concerns and opinions.

Are they justified in their decision to run background checks on their patrons?  

I firmly believe policies like this set the tone for more gun control.

Now, I'm one of those people who think private businesses can set whatever policies they want. Yes, that includes infringing on our rights, if they so desire.

I just think it's also our right to call them out when they do it, hold them accountable for their position, and boycott them until they either change their policy or shut down, if not both.

What's more, if this were the site for a USCCA qualification, it seems like USCCA might want to step in here and set some guidelines to prevent this sort of thing from happening. 

I get the line that this was a condition that the city supposedly set for them if they want to open, but while Garcia is suspicious, I'm more inclined to call it complete BS. After all, this is a report about the facility opening, and there's no mention of conditions set for the range to open. I can find reports throughout 2015 about the facility, a change in full ownership that same year, and absolutely no media reports about this range being told it had to perform background checks in order to open. Granted, Google doesn't work as well as it used to, so maybe it's not showing me news stories about it, but I doubt it.

Was this just something some official told them, only for them to immediately bend the knee? It's possible. Opening any business can be stressful, so I wouldn't be shocked to learn that someone would just capitulate in order to make things go as smoothly as possible, but that's still troubling on a lot of levels since that doesn't seem to be the law in the city itself, nor does it seem to be the norm in Colorado.

In fact, America's 1st Freedom took a tour back in 2022. They mention the background check requirement to use the range, but no mention of that being a requirement from the city. Strange, don't you think?

Again, I think businesses can set whatever policies within the law that they want. I also think that when you've got a massive facility that you claim cost $20 million, you'd damn well better own up to what's actually your policy, what's the city's requirements, and if you don't gotta do something as invasive as a criminal background check just to shoot a gun, you simply don't.

And if you have to, you should damn well fight that requirement if you want to tell your customers that you value both their rights and their privacy. Otherwise, don't be surprised when your company becomes a pariah in the gun world.

Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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