Justice Department launches court battle over Denver’s semi-automatic weapons ban

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN

(CNN) — The Justice Department sued Denver on Tuesday, alleging that the city’s decades-old ban on semi-automatic weapons violates the Second Amendment.

Enacted nearly 40 years ago, the Denver ordinance restricts firearms with magazines over 15 rounds, including any weapons that have been modified to do so. The civil lawsuit filed Tuesday asks a judge to stop the city and its police department from enforcing the weapons ban and to implement policies that “correct” instances in which people’s rights were violated.

“Law-abiding Americans, regardless of what city or state they reside in, should not have to live under threat of criminal sanction just for exercising their Second Amendment right to possess arms which are owned by tens of millions of their fellow citizens,” Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.

The Justice Department has vowed to sue state and local governments across the country for gun policies it claims violate the Constitution. The DOJ established a Second Amendment Section last year to lead the charge in filing those cases.

The Justice Department division has filed other lawsuits, including one against Washington, DC, for its restrictions on AR-15-style weapons. The department has also sued the Virgin Islands Police Department for permitting delays it says are unreasonable.

The AR-15 is among the popular rifles owned in the US.

Dhillon first warned the city of a potential lawsuit in late April, writing that Denver could avoid the process if officials agreed to stop enforcing the ban and acknowledge it was unconstitutional.

City leaders rejected the notion, crediting the ordinance in part for a drop in violent crime and noting that courts across the country have previously rejected similar cases.

“Your request is baseless, irresponsible, and a clear overreach of the federal government’s power,” City Attorney Miko Brown said in a response letter dated Monday, adding that “reversing a common-sense ban that has worked for 37 years and bringing assault weapons back into the City’s neighborhoods is not one of them.”

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