Colorado has no statute that defines dangerous devices as a category, and none that makes setting a booby trap its own offense. The criminal code reaches this conduct through statutes written for other purposes, and the exposure is usually more serious than the people who set these devices expect.
If the Device Is Explosive or Incendiary
C.R.S. 18-12-109 governs explosives and incendiary devices, and it defines them in detail: high explosives, blasting caps and detonating cord, explosive bombs and grenades, and incendiary devices including a breakable container of flammable liquid fitted with a wick. Knowing possession or control of one is a class 5 felony under subsection (2)(a). Using one in the commission of or an attempt to commit a felony is a class 2 felony under subsection (4).
If Someone Is Injured
The assault statutes apply to a device the same way they apply to any other instrument. Causing serious bodily injury by means of a deadly weapon, with intent to cause serious bodily injury, is first degree assault under C.R.S. 18-3-202(1)(a). Causing bodily injury by means of a deadly weapon, with intent to cause bodily injury, is second degree assault under C.R.S. 18-3-203(1)(b).
Defense of Property Does Not Cover a Device
This is the part that surprises property owners. C.R.S. 18-1-706 justifies “reasonable and appropriate physical force” to prevent an attempt to commit theft, criminal mischief, or criminal tampering, but it permits deadly physical force “only in defense of himself or another as described in section 18-1-704.” C.R.S. 18-1-705 says the same for defending premises against a trespasser, adding a single exception for preventing an attempt to commit first degree arson.
Both statutes turn on what the person using force reasonably believes at the moment force is used. A device set in advance forms no such belief. It responds the same way to a burglar, a lost neighbor, a utility worker, and a firefighter, which is why setting one is a poor substitute for a lock, a camera, or a call to police.