DOJ Seeks to Strike Down Another Gun Law in Colorado

The Justice Department sued Colorado on Wednesday over its state law banning large-capacity gun magazines.

This is the second suit in as many days the DOJ has filed targeting gun laws in the state. The department also asked the federal court to strike down Denver’s ordinance banning semiautomatic weapons. Both suits claim the restrictions violate the Second Amendment.

Colorado lawmakers passed the ban on the sale and possession of magazines capable of carrying more than 15 rounds of ammunition in 2013, following the 2012 Aurora theater shooting that killed 12 and injured 70.

“Colorado’s ban on certain magazines is political virtue signaling at the expense of Americans’ constitutional right to keep and bear arms,” Harmeet Dhillon, DOJ’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, said in a statement on Wednesday. She had previously threatened to file the suit against Denver’s ordinance in an April 28 letter to its mayor and city attorney. She demanded they cease enforcement of the restrictions, which have been in effect for 37 years.

Denver and Colorado leaders labeled the DOJ’s actions as overreach.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat, said the state has a duty to defend residents from gun violence.

“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.”

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said the city has the right to pass “commonsense gun safety laws.”

“Denver will not be bullied by any administration, especially one that has shown so little regard for public safety or the rule of law,” the Democrat said in a statement Wednesday. “The federal government should be helping cities keep families safe, not making it easier for dangerous weapons to end up on our streets.”