The Trump administration sued Colorado over its ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines on Wednesday, alleging that it violates the Second Amendment right to bear arms. The ban was passed in 2013, a year after the killing of 12 people inside an Aurora movie theater. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser vowed to defend the ban, which was upheld by the state's top court in 2020, the Denver Post reports.
- "Using federal civil rights law to put Coloradans at greater risk of gun violence is a dangerous overreach by the Justice Department, and this lawsuit turns the mission of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division on its head," Weiser said in a statement. "Large-capacity magazine laws are responsible policies that satisfy Second Amendment protections, decrease the deadly impacts of mass shootings, and save lives."
- The administration sued Denver and its police department on Tuesday, seeking to strike down an assault weapons ban that has been in place for Colorado's largest city since 1989, the AP reports.
- "The Constitution is not a suggestion and the Second Amendment is not a second-class right," acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. "Denver's ban on commonly owned semi-automatic rifles directly violates the right to bear arms."
- Department of Justice attorneys asked the city last week to stop enforcing the ban and enter into negotiations with federal officials to resolve the matter. But Denver's mayor and police chief forcefully rejected the administration's request during a Monday news conference.
- "Our answer is hell no," Mayor Mike Johnston said. "No, we will not roll back a common-sense policy that has kept weapons of war off of these city streets for 37 years. No, we will not put first responders at greater risk every time they respond to a dangerous incident. No, we will not go back to a time when folks are worried about walking into movie theaters or grocery stores or public elementary schools."
Federal officials said in their Tuesday lawsuit that Denver's ban includes AR-15-style rifles that are owned by at least 16 million people in the US. "They use those ordinary semiautomatic rifles for a variety of lawful purposes, including but not limited to self-defense," government attorneys wrote. They used similar language in the lawsuit against the state. "Law-abiding Americans own and use for lawful purposes literally hundreds of millions of magazines such as those banned by the State," the complaint says. "A detachable magazine is an integral part of most semi-automatic firearms, including the AR-15 rifle. As such, they are covered by the Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms."
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