{"id":117709,"date":"2026-07-06T14:00:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T19:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=117709"},"modified":"2026-07-06T14:00:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T19:00:53","slug":"117709","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=117709","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Lawsuit challenges Denver, state over gun & magazine bans.<\/a><\/p>\n

DENVER\u2013A Colorado gun rights groups and three Denver-area gun owners on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit challenging Denver\u2019s decades-old ban on so-called \u201cassault weapons,\u201d as well as Colorado\u2019s statewide prohibition on standard-capacity ammunition magazines, arguing both laws violate the Second Amendment.<\/p>\n

The suit\u00a0was filed in U.S. District Court<\/a>\u00a0by the Colorado State Shooting Association (CSSA), the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), and individual plaintiffs Ray Elliott, Trevor Alley and Michael Vitco, all Denver residents.<\/p>\n

CSSA<\/a>\u00a0is the Colorado state affiliate of the National Rifle Association (NRA).<\/p>\n

At issue is Denver\u2019s 1989 ordinance banning the sale, manufacture and possession of firearms the city labels \u201cassault weapons,\u201d and Colorado\u2019s 2013 law banning magazines that hold more than 15 rounds. The complaint argues both laws are, in practice, magazine restrictions as Denver\u2019s ordinance defines a banned \u201cassault weapon\u201d chiefly by whether it accepts a magazine over 15 rounds.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Arms in \u2018common use\u2019<\/h3>\n

Plaintiffs lean heavily on the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s 2022\u00a0Bruen decision<\/a>, which put the burden on government to prove that a gun restriction is \u201cconsistent with this Nation\u2019s historical tradition of firearm regulation.\u201d The complaint argues neither Denver or the state can meet that burden, noting magazine bans \u201cwere unknown in the United States before the 20th century,\u201d while repeating firearms date back centuries.<\/p>\n

The suit also singles out just how common the banned items are. \u201cMagazines capable of holding more than 15 rounds of ammunition\u2014and firearms equipped with them\u2014are normal features of firearms in the United States and are more accurately described as \u2018standard capacity magazines,’\u201d reads the complaint, pointing to Colorado\u2019s own prior court stipulations that tens of millions of such magazines are lawfully owned nationwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cArms that are in common use\u2014as the firearms and magazines Defendants have banned unquestionably are\u2014cannot be unusual or dangerous. Therefore, they cannot be banned,\u201d the complaint states.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit also takes aim at Denver\u2019s exemption scheme, arguing that even residents who lawfully hold a permit issued under a narrow 1989 grandfather clause are barred from ever selling or transferring their firearm within the city, which plaintiffs say \u201cdenies ordinary, peaceable people who reside in the City the ability to acquire the banned firearms in conjunction with the banned magazines and to destroy the legal market for the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gun rights legal brawl<\/h3>\n

CSSA executive director Huey Laugesen said in a statement that the bans \u201cdeny law-abiding Coloradans rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution.\u201d CSSA vice president Kolby Zipperer added that \u201cthe courts \u2014 not politicians in Denver \u2014 will decide whether the Second Amendment means what it says.\u201d FPC president Brandon Combs was more pointed, saying the groups filed suit \u201cto end Denver and Colorado\u2019s war on gun owners and force these tyrants to respect the Second Amendment, whether they like it or not.\u201d.<\/p>\n

The group is actively litigating several other Colorado gun rights restrictions as well.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0previously reported by<\/a>\u00a0Complete Colorado<\/em>, CSAA is challenging a newly enacted state law (House Bill 26-1126<\/a>) giving Colorado officials broad, random access to firearms purchase records without a warrant or even suspicion of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

They are also suing over Colorado\u2019s firearm excise tax, passed at the ballot in 2024\u00a0as Proposition KK<\/a>, as well\u00a0as a sweeping and expensive<\/a>\u00a0licensing scheme (Senate Bill 25-003<\/a>) for the purchase of many commonly owned firearms passed last year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lawsuit challenges Denver, state over gun & magazine bans. DENVER\u2013A Colorado gun rights groups and three Denver-area gun owners on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit challenging Denver\u2019s decades-old ban on so-called \u201cassault weapons,\u201d as well as Colorado\u2019s statewide prohibition on standard-capacity ammunition magazines, arguing both laws violate the Second Amendment. The suit\u00a0was filed in U.S. … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,50,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-courts","category-goobermint","category-rkba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117710,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117709\/revisions\/117710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}