Colorado’s Court of Appeals has agreed a dispute in Larimer County over the adequacy of a gun group’s concealed carry training appears to have resolved itself, and the lawsuit against Sheriff Justin Smith must be dismissed.

Guns For Everyone, based in Jefferson County, offers safety classes for people seeking concealed handgun permits. Certificates from such classes are required for sheriffs’ offices to issue a permit. Following the 2012 massacre at an Aurora movie theater, the Colorado legislature enacted several gun safety measures, including a requirement that training classes cannot take place entirely online.

But in mid-2020, there was a question about whether Guns For Everyone’s program met the legal requirements.

The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office alerted the Colorado Bureau of Investigation that Guns For Everyone was reportedly conducting trainings entirely online. A CBI employee responded that sheriffs have the discretion to decide whether the training certificates issued by an organization comply with the law. A copy of the exchange circulated among all county sheriffs.

Smith’s office attempted to confirm the allegations against Guns For Everyone, reportedly learning that at least one student’s in-person training was limited only to picking up their certificate. Smith assigned an investigator to take a course with the organization, which consisted of a short in-person segment and a YouTube video.

The sheriff wrote to his counterparts on June 19, 2020, expressing his concerns that the YouTube training did not verify whether students actually watched the video, and certificates of completion lacked the names of the students.

“Setting aside any opinion on the quality of the online or in person training presented, I will not be accepting any applicants from this program,” Smith wrote.

In total, Smith refused to accept certificates from Guns For Everyone students between May 24 and June 24. But after the organization agreed to modify its practices, Smith resumed issuing concealed carry permits.

Shortly afterward, however, Guns For Everyone sued, asking a judge to permanently block Smith from further rejecting its students’ firearms safety certificates. In September 2021, then-District Court Judge Julie Kunce Field dismissed the lawsuit, finding Smith acted lawfully by initially rejecting certificates when he was unable to confirm whether students had actually completed the course.

Once Guns For Everyone came into compliance, the legal dilemma dissipated.

“With those clarifications and changes which addressed the legitimate concerns of the Sheriff, the Sheriff has consistently approved applicants from Plaintiff,” Kunce Field wrote. “The Court does not find that there is an ongoing controversy or uncertainty.”

Nevertheless, Guns For Everyone appealed, implying the threat to its students was ongoing.

“There was no indication the office actually changed any public position until the case was filed; and then, only privately,” wrote attorney Brian DeBauche.

On Thursday, a three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals upheld Kunce Field’s finding that the case is moot.

“Larimer County resumed accepting, as valid, GFE training certificates either before, right around, or after the time the present lawsuit was filed,” wrote Judge John Daniel Dailey. “But the record is clear, and GFE acknowledges, that Larimer County resumed accepting its partially online training certificates. … Thus, there is no issue that currently exists between the parties.”

The case is Guns For Everyone LLC v. Larimer County Sheriff’s Office et al.