Colorado has no criminal offense called brandishing. The word does not appear in the Colorado Revised Statutes, so there is no charge by that name and no set of elements that defines it. The conduct people describe as brandishing is charged under one of two statutes, and which one applies decides how serious the case is.

Menacing

C.R.S. 18-3-206 reaches a display aimed at a person. A person commits menacing by knowingly placing or attempting to place another person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury, “by any threat or physical action.” Menacing is a class 1 misdemeanor. It is a class 5 felony if committed by the use of a firearm, knife, or bludgeon, or a simulated firearm, knife, or bludgeon, which is what moves a gun case from misdemeanor to felony.

Disorderly Conduct

C.R.S. 18-9-106(1)(f) reaches the public display that alarms without being aimed at anyone in particular. A person who is not a peace officer commits it by displaying a real or simulated firearm, by displaying an article fashioned to make someone reasonably believe it is a firearm, or by representing that he or she is armed, in a public place “in a manner calculated to alarm and does alarm another person.” That is a class 2 misdemeanor. Discharging a firearm in a public place is a separate offense under subsection (1)(e) and is a class 1 misdemeanor.

Why the Difference Matters

The exposure is not the same, so the charging decision matters more than the word used to describe the incident. Menacing requires a person who was placed in fear of injury that was both imminent and serious; disorderly conduct does not, and it carries a lower classification.

Justification is often the real question in these cases. C.R.S. 18-1-704(1) justifies using physical force against what a person reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of unlawful physical force by another person, and subsection (2) sets the narrower conditions under which deadly physical force may be used.