Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Magazine Ban

Second Amendment Lawsuit Targets Denver Gun Ban and State Magazine Limits
The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Second Amendment Lawsuit Targets Denver Gun Ban and State Magazine Limits

By Deborah Grigsby | The Denver Gazette A lawsuit filed in federal court by three Denver residents and two gun rights groups aims to strike down the city’s “assault weapon” restrictions, along with bans on ammunition magazines holding 15 rounds or more. The complaint, filed on June 30 by Ray Elliott, Trevor Alley and Michael Vitco, along with the Firearms Policy Coalition and the Colorado State Shooting Association, an arm of the National Rifle Association, alleges Denver’s semiautomatic firearm ban is unconstitutional, as is its ban on 15-round or larger magazines. Naming the city government, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser, Colorado Bureau of Investigation Director Armando Saldate III, Colorado State Patrol Chief Col. Matthew Packard and Denve...
‘If this bill passes, we’re moving’: How a Colorado veteran became a political voice online
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

‘If this bill passes, we’re moving’: How a Colorado veteran became a political voice online

By RMV Staff | Rocky Mountain Voice A Colorado Springs defense worker who never wanted to be in politics now says the only place left to win back gun rights in this state is a federal courtroom — and that the window is open right now. Nicholas, the veteran behind the YouTube channels Big Timber Lodge and Big Timber Armory, told Heidi Ganahl on the latest episode of Unleashed that he spent more than a year building legal packages for the U.S. Department of Justice, asking it to sue Colorado over its firearm laws. In early May, the DOJ filed suit. Colorado’s gun restrictions moved faster than gun owners could fight them in state court, where judges are appointed under Democrat governors. Now the Trump administration’s Justice Department, not a Colorado plaintiff, is suing the st...
A Rodney King-era civil rights law drives the federal lawsuit over Colorado’s magazine ban
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

A Rodney King-era civil rights law drives the federal lawsuit over Colorado’s magazine ban

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado's magazine ban has been challenged before. The surprise this time is not the Second Amendment argument. It is the DOJ’s decision to use a federal civil-rights law traditionally aimed at police misconduct investigations to make it. On May 5, federal attorneys filed against Denver over its assault-weapons ban. The next morning, they were back in court with another complaint—this one against the state, over the 15-round magazine limit. The law driving both lawsuits came out of the aftermath of Rodney King. Congress passed §12601 in 1994 after Los Angeles erupted in riots, giving the federal government authority to intervene when police departments repeatedly violated constitutional rights. DOJ has used the law fewer than 100 times in t...