The Trump administration sued the city of Denver on Tuesday over the city’s assault weapon ban.
The 37-year-old law violates the 2nd Amendment, the Department of Justice argues. The local law makes it a crime “to carry, store, keep, manufacture, sell, or otherwise possess assault weapons” in Denver.
The Trump administration had said it would not immediately file a lawsuit if the city agreed to compromise its ban, but city officials strongly rejected the threat.
On Monday, City Attorney Milo Brown rejected the DOJ threats as “Baseless, irresponsible, and a clear overreach of the federal government’s power.”
Mayor Mike Johnston said much the same at a press conference Monday: “We're here today to let them know that our answer is ‘hell no. No, we will not roll back a common-sense policy that has kept weapons of war off of these city streets for 37 years.”
The DOJ argues “assault weapon” is not a technical term in the firearms industry and, as Justice Clarence Thomas has noted, is “a rhetorically charged political term developed by anti-gun publicists.”
The guns covered by the ban include the popular and controversial AR-15 platform, semiautomatic pistols with a detachable magazine with a capacity exceeding 15 rounds, semiautomatic shotguns that have a capacity greater than six rounds, or parts that convert firearms into weapons.
“When the City banned AR-15 style rifles with standard capacity magazines, it banned an arm in common use for lawful purposes by law-abiding citizens,” the DOJ wrote in its complaint.
The assault weapon ban was voted into law by the Denver City Council in 1989 after a spate of gun violence shocked the city and has widely been endorsed by the city’s chiefs of police.
The DOJ also notes that rifles of any type are far less commonly used in homicides than handguns, which are generally legal in Denver.
The federal government is asking the courts to stop Denver police from enforcing the local law.
