A Colorado judge earlier this month blocked Boulder’s two-year ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines: Less than two weeks later, 10 people were killed in a mass shooting at one of the supermarkets in Boulder. the city. According to the affidavit, investigators determined that the suspect, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, bought an assault rifle on March 16, 2021.
Boulder County District Court Judge Andrew Hartman ruled on March 12 that the 2018 ban, which prohibited possession, sale or transfer of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines (LCM) , was not valid because it was contrary to state law.
“The Court finds that the ordinance’s prohibition on possession, sale and transfer of assault weapons is operationally provided because it materially impedes the state’s interest in the regulation of firearms and prohibits what the state law, ”says Hartman’s ruling. He noted the state legislature’s statement that firearms regulation is a state interest, to avoid “a mosaic of inconsistent local laws involving firearms” and to better protect Colorado residents.
“The Court finds that the need for state uniformity favors the state’s interest in regulating assault weapons and LCM,” Hartman wrote. “State uniformity in the rules prohibiting the possession and transfer of assault weapons and LCM is in line with the interest declared by the legislature to protect the fundamental right of citizens to bear arms and consistent treatment under the legislation criminal “.
Boulder’s lawyers argued that the city ordinance was necessary because state law does not deal with assault weapons or high-capacity magazines. Hartman ruled that the omission was intentional (listing other weapons prohibited under state law) and therefore, in choosing not to include assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, the state had in fact directed them.
“The General Assembly has enacted a comprehensive scheme regulating firearms and ammunition … which includes a ban on magazines capable of accepting more than 15 rounds,” he wrote. “That assault weapons are clearly omitted from the list of‘ dangerous and illegal weapons ’and therefore not prohibited under Colorado law, suggests the intent to make possession of firearms illegal. ‘assault on Colorado in light of the comprehensive nature of the firearms scheme and the ban on LCMs accepting more than 15 rounds. “
The Boulder ordinance prohibited ammunition magazines that could contain more than 10 rounds.
Authorities on Tuesday identified the ten people killed during Monday’s shooting at the King Soopers grocery store. He victims it ranged from 20 to 65 years.
Alissa, a 21-year-old man from Arvada, Colorado, has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder by shooting, according to police chief Maris Herold. Using law enforcement databases, investigators determined that Alissa bought a Ruger AR-556 pistol on March 16, 2021, according to the affidavit of the arrest warrant.
“This can’t be our new normal … we need to see a change, because we’ve lost too many lives,” Congressman Joe Neguse told a news conference on Tuesday.
Former Boulder councilor Jill Adler Grano, who introduced the Boulder assault weapons ban and now works as Neguse’s director of community affairs, said the city ordinance was trying to prevent tragedies. massive, such as those in neighboring cities. Columbine i Aurora.
“I don’t see this removing the Second Amendment rights,” Grano said, according to Complete Colorado. “The second amendment does not protect assault weapons. There have been hundreds and hundreds of mass shootings in America. This is a long-awaited proposal. I think it’s time to say enough, not to the city of Boulder “.
The National Rifles Association issued a celebratory press release after the Boulder assault weapons ban was overthrown. The organization’s Legislative Action Institute (NRA-ILA) supported the case.
“The city council should have listened to the city’s lawyer. His repeated attempts to warn them that they did not have the authority to pass these ordinances were cited throughout the opinion,” the statement said. “The opinion is also written with a lot of care and reflection, which will make it even harder to overturn it, if the city appeals to it.”
The ANR said the Boulder loss should be used as a precedent against other cities “that are considering passing any similar counterproductive ordinance.”
Assault weapons were banned nationwide for ten years under the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Protection Act, commonly known as the Assault Weapons Prohibition, until 2004. Congress did not re-authorize the ban. Many states have passed their own assault weapons laws, some stricter than the federal ban.
President Biden was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee when Congress passed the ban. He wrote in a 2019 New York Times publication that if elected president, he would press for a ban on them again.
“Assault weapons (military-style firearms designed to fire quickly) are a threat to our national security and we should treat them as such,” Biden wrote. “Anyone who shows that we can’t do anything is lying, and maintaining that opinion should be disqualifying for anyone who wants to lead our country.”
Monday’s tragedy in Colorado is the second massive shooting since Biden took office. Eight people died the previous week in shots at three spas in Atlanta, Georgia.
The president on Tuesday urged support for the ban on assault weapons and called on the Senate to immediately pass House legislation to close the background check gaps. “We have to act,” he said.
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who was the architect of the original ban, has called for it to be reauthorized and updated. He noted at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence that reported Tuesday that the Colorado shooter used an AR-15, which was also used in recent mass shootings in Las Vegas, Nevada, Dayton, Ohio. , Parkland, Florida and Sandy Hook Elementary.
He also noted that violent gun massacres fell 37 percent during the ten-year ban, but there was an “183 percent increase in massacres” in the ten years after the ban.
“Our whole heart goes out to all the families who lost a loved one yesterday and to law enforcement who risk their lives in the line of duty,” Said Feinstein. “But that doesn’t cure the problem.”
In response to Feinstein’s call for a renewed ban on federal assault weapons, Lauren Boebert, a member of the Colorado Republican Congress, tweeted on March 14, two days after the ordinance was rejected. of Boulder, that “any politician calling for a gun ban should insist on his security unarmed.”
Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis said Tuesday the public should not accept the “Monday massacre” as “normal.”
“It’s been a painful year. And we feel here, once again, surrounded by meaningless and seemingly incomprehensible losses,” he said. “This is a pain we have to sit with. We can never let ourselves fall asleep because of the pain, because we just can’t let that be accepted as anything closer to normal occurrence.”