Judge Defers Ruling on Constitutionality of Boulder Gun Ban

The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado deferred an important case on the Second Amendment rights of citizens and in so doing, upheld a batch of unconstitutionally enacted regulations from Boulder’s City Council.

The case stems from a May court decision.

That’s when Boulder’s local authorities put in place a set of regulations limiting what citizens could purchase and own in terms of firearms and ammunition.

Specifically, authorities outright banned some of the most commonly owned firearms in the United States.

More from Mountain States Legal Foundation:

In a decision issued yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado refrained from vindicating the constitutionally protected rights of Boulder residents.

In May of this year, the City of Boulder enacted an array of unconstitutional firearm and magazine regulations. Yesterday, the court deferred to the State of Colorado court system to determine whether the city had the authority to enact its new regulations in the first place.

“While we will always support the principle of federalism, this decision forces the people of Boulder to wait to vindicate their rights under the U.S. Constitution,” said Cody J. Wisniewski, of Mountain States Legal Foundation, the lead attorney on the case.

Boulder city council members voted unanimously to ban some of the most commonly used firearms and magazines in the United States. Council members also raised the age of legal gun ownership in the city from 18 to 21.

Boulder resident Jon Caldara, a plaintiff in the lawsuit who seeks to have Boulder’s ordinance overturned, is a vocal opponent of the City of Boulder’s discrimination against firearm owners.

“I have lived in Boulder since 1984,” Mr. Caldara said. “I believe we need to hold Boulder to its own standards in celebrating diversity and tolerance.”

“This is hate,” Mr. Caldara added, speaking of the city council’s view toward gun owners. “These are elitists who want people like me out of their town.”

Mr. Wisniewski added that the plaintiffs are evaluating their options in the wake of yesterday’s decision. “We will not give up the fight to defend the constitutionally protected rights of the people of Boulder,” he said.

In 2012, Mountain States Legal Foundation, on behalf of its clients, prevailed in the Colorado Supreme Court in Regents of the University of Colorado v. Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. The Court’s unanimous decision in that case confirmed the right of concealed carry permit holders to possess concealed firearms on the public university’s campus.

Mountain States Legal Foundation, created in 1977, is a nonprofit, public-interest legal foundation dedicated to individual liberty, the right to own and use property, limited and ethical government, and the free enterprise system.  Its offices are in suburban Denver, Colorado.