Department of Justice sues the city of Denver over gun laws.

 

File photo of a Bushmaster AR-15. Fox News/Getty.

The Department of Justice has sued the city of Denver over gun laws. Fox News. Denver has had a law that banned magazines larger than 15 rounds since 1989. The ban affects most AR-15's which have 20 or 30 round magazines as standard capacity.  Denver argues that those weapons are "assault weapons" but the DOJ filing says that assault weapon is a political term, not a legal one. They also argue that AR-15's are in common use and thus are protected by the 2nd amendment and Supreme Court rulings including DC v Heller and NYSRPA v Bruen. Denver has vowed to fight the lawsuit. 

The DOJ filed a similar lawsuit against the State of Colorado as well, which has a similar magazine ban. The Hill. The law is extremely similar to Denver's law and is being fought on the same grounds. 

My Comment:

The NYSRPA v Bruen case set a pretty clear standard. When a gun is in common use, it cannot be banned. AR-15's are the most popular rifles in America today and they are mostly only sold with 20 to 30 round magazines. There also isn't a historical precedent, the Bruen test, for any laws that restrict the right to own these weapons or restrict magazine size. 

However, the lower courts have fairly consistently ruled in favor of these gun bans even though these laws clearly fail the standard set my Bruen. There is starting to be some cases where it is going the other direction, DC's magazine ban was struck down and the New Jersey ban could be struck down by the 3rd Circuit Court. If this case against Denver and Colorado succeeds it will be another court sticking down a magazine/assault weapons ban. 

The split is the important factor. The Supreme Court does not like to issue rulings on cases that have agreement and until very recently the lower courts absolutely said these bans were legal. But if there are three cases going the other way, SCOTUS could be forced to make a ruling. This is the DOJ forcing the issue. 

The conventional view is that SCOTUS would slap down these kind of assault weapons bans. The court is 6-3 conservative and there are at least four justices that are very strong on gun rights. My fear is that the court would either punt again, like they have with other recent cases, or, somehow, the two wishy-washy conservative justices, Roberts and Barrett, could join with the liberal justices in a 5-4 ruling, which is the absolute worse case scenario. And it's very possible that even with a SCOTUS ruling, that the lower courts will continue to ignore the court and keep these unconstitutional  laws. However, that's the pessimistic take, and I think the more likely outcome is that the case will be brought to the Supreme Court and the law will be overturned. 

I do have to say that I am happy that the Trump administration has changed course on gun rights. A lot of people, myself included, were upset that he wasn't doing these kinds of things in the first year of his 2nd term. Trump's always been a bit shaky on gun rights, so folks were disappointed to say the least. 

But the last few weeks? Something has obviously changed. First there was the new ATF rules where 34 Biden era rules were revoked, including things like pistol brace regulations, FFL restrictions and expanded background checks, which was widely praised by the gun rights community. Now there is this major lawsuit against these laws in Colorado. 

Why the big change? I am guessing it has to do with the midterms. The GOP's chances in the midterms are better than the media thinks, especially after the SCOTUS ruling on racially drawn congressional districts, but Trump does need to shore up support. Throwing a bone to the gun rights community is a zero cost way to do that, as some of those folks were saying they weren't going to show up because Trump wasn't acting on gun rights. Now though? They should be happy. 

I know I am. I know I didn't expect much from Trump on gun rights in his 2nd term. Indeed, I though at best that he wouldn't do much of anything on the issue at all, just like his first term. I mostly voted for him for immigration and foreign policy, not gun rights, with the hope that JD Vance would at least temper Trump's weaker instincts on this issue. Instead it looks like we are getting restored gun rights as a bonus that more than justifies my vote for Republicans.