Showdown: DOJ vs. Denver's Assault Weapons Ban

The city of Denver, Colorado, was one of the first states to enact a so-called “assault weapons ban.” And now the federal Department of Justice is fighting back, suing the city over what the DOJ says is a violation of citizens’ constitutional rights.

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The OG AWB

Most shooters would consider the 1994 firearms restrictions that were baked into the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act as the first modern assault weapons ban. Under those laws, the feds targeted firearms with specific characteristics—particularly magazine capacity as well as external features like a pistol grip, barrel shroud, threaded muzzle and so on. But several years before that 1994 legislation, the city of Denver passed similar laws that banned semi-auto centerfire firearms based on their magazine capacity and other details. You can see the whole thing here, although changes have been made over the years as state law changed.

The DOJ Strikes Back

After 37 years of not really addressing Denver’s laws, the DOJ now says the city’s assault weapons ban is unconstitutional—specifically, that it violates (no surprise here) the Second Amendment. Attorney General Todd Blanche said Denver’s law is a direct violation of the right to bear arms, and the DOJ is suing the city to make sure the law is struck down.

On their part, Denver’s city politicians and police force leadership are saying that the ban keeps criminals in check; the state’s attorney general backs up their ideas, saying “Large-capacity magazine laws are responsible policies that decrease the deadly impacts of mass shootings and save lives.”

The DOJ disagrees. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, leader of the Civil Rights Division, said: “Colorado’s ban on certain magazines is political virtue signaling at the expense of Americans’ constitutional right to keep and bear arms.”

Her statement continues, “Under my direction, the Division’s Second Amendment Section will continue to defend law-abiding Americans’ rights against unconstitutional restrictions on their right to possess arms which are owned by tens of millions of their fellow citizens.”

In other words, the DOJ says firearms rights should be equal across the country, not restricted in specific jurisdictions.

This is certainly shaping up to be a legal issue in jurisdictions across the entire U.S. in the coming months, so we’ll keep an eye on this one. It could set a tone for court cases to come.