Steve Gorman
May 6 (Reuters) – The Trump administration sued Colorado on Wednesday, seeking to overturn the state’s 13-year-old ban on high-capacity gun ammunition magazines that allow more than 15 bullets to be fired in rapid succession without reloading.
The lawsuit alleges that Colorado violated the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms by enacting restrictions on gun magazines in 2013 after a mass shooting at an Aurora movie theater that killed 12 people and injured 58 others.
In 2016, a federal appeals court ordered the dismissal of a similar case brought by county sheriffs, gun shops, outfitters and shooting ranges challenging large-capacity magazine bans and measures requiring universal background checks for gun buyers.
In the case, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit found that the plaintiffs lacked legal standing to bring the lawsuit because they failed to show that they would be personally harmed by the law.
The Justice Department’s complaint on Wednesday cited the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the landmark case District of Columbia v. Heller, which ruled that the Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding citizens to possess commonly used firearms for lawful purposes.
The 11-page Justice Department lawsuit, filed by its civil rights division, contends that magazines holding more than 15 rounds are standard on many of the most popular guns in the United States, including AR-15-style rifles and some semi-automatic pistols.
“The number of legally owned semi-automatic firearms in the United States that use state-banned magazines runs into the tens of millions,” the lawsuit states. Thus, outlawing high-capacity magazines effectively limits an individual’s right to possess “commonly used” weapons.
It added that such weapons “are used for a variety of legitimate purposes” such as recreational target shooting, collecting and self-defense. The lawsuit seeks a court order enjoining enforcement of the Colorado statute.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser issued a statement vowing to defend the state’s gun safety measures and said the lawsuit “revolutionizes the mission of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.”
“High-capacity magazine laws are responsible policy that meet Second Amendment protections, reduce the impact of mass shootings and save lives,” Weiser said. “The state has a responsibility to protect Coloradans from gun violence.”
The Justice Department’s complaint against Colorado’s high-capacity magazine ban comes a day after the department filed a separate lawsuit challenging Denver’s longstanding ordinance banning semi-automatic rifles, which are defined as assault weapons.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Stephen Coates)