Today, the Justice Department filed suit against the State of Colorado alleging that the State unconstitutionally bans certain constitutionally protected standard capacity firearm magazines. This law unconstitutionally infringes on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms in common use for lawful purposes.
“Colorado’s ban on certain magazines is political virtue signaling at the expense of Americans’ constitutional right to keep and bear arms,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “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.”
As the complaint explains, a State of Colorado statute makes it a crime to possess so-called “large-capacity magazines.” But the State has previously admitted that it bans magazines that come standard with many of the most popular firearms in the Nation, including AR-15-style rifles, which are the most popular rifles in America. Law-abiding Americans own hundreds of millions of magazines such as those banned by the State.
In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its landmark decision District of Columbia v. Heller, held that the Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding citizens to possess weapons that are in common use for lawful purposes.
The Civil Rights Division’s Second Amendment Section enforces the Second Amendment. If you believe your right to keep and bear arms is being infringed, please submit a complaint through justice.gov/crt/second-amendment-section.
