• References

The Trust Project

References This article includes a list of source material, including documents and people, so you can follow the story further.
An illustration of a police officer walking down a city street.
(Supplied by Gigafact.)

Yes.

Pit bulls are legal in Denver with a breed-restricted permit from Denver Animal Protection.

In 2020, 66% of Denverites voted to pass Ballot Measure 2J, repealing a 30-year ban on pit bulls in the city. The measure requires that owners of any dog with physical traits of American pit bull terriers, American staffordshire terriers or staffordshire bull terriers receive a breed assessment and obtain a permit.

Owners are limited to two pit bulls per household, and must provide the dog’s address, an accurate photo and description, two emergency contacts and an annual $30 fee.

If there are no violations for the dog for three consecutive years, owners may register their dog like any other in Denver. 

After Denver repealed its pit bull ban, several surrounding cities followed suit. Commerce City and Lone Tree dropped citywide bans in 2021, and Aurora voters made the breed legal in 2024.

See full source list below.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

The Colorado Sun partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

References:

Denver Revised Municipal Code, City of Denver, accessed September 2025. Source link

2020 Denver election results, City of Denver, accessed September 2025. Source link

Denver Revised Municipal Code, City of Denver, Oct. 16, 1989. Source link

Commerce City Ordinance 2312, Commerce City, accessed September 2025. Source link

Ordinance 21-09, City of Lone Tree, June 15, 2021. Source link

Official election results, City of Aurora, Dec. 4, 2024. Source link

Type of Story: Fact-Check

Checks a specific statement or set of statements asserted as fact.

Tyler has spent the last three years reporting on the environment, culture and local government in Colorado. Most recently, he spent time as a staff reporter and photographer for Boulder Weekly, where he covered the rapidly growing city of Longmont...