The Department of Justice sued Colorado on Wednesday, accusing the state of illegitimately banning constitutionally protected high-capacity ammunition magazines. The verdict was reportedly passed after a 2012 mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. The Justice Department argued that the law breaches Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens to keep arms for lawful purposes. This comes days after community safety meetings were held following random shooting deaths in North Denver.
According to the Justice Department’s press release published on their website, Harmeet K. Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, stated that Colorado’s prohibition on certain magazines puts “political virtue” ahead at the cost of Americans’ constitutional right to own and carry arms.
Justice Department Sues State of Colorado for Unconstitutional Weapons Ban
“Colorado’s ban on certain magazines is political virtue signaling at the expense of Americans’ constitutional right to keep and bear arms,” said @AAGDhillon. “Under my direction, the Division’s Second… pic.twitter.com/Nc876hLiLB
— DOJ Civil Rights Division (@CivilRights) May 6, 2026
“Under my direction, the Division’s Second Amendment Section will continue to defend law-abiding Americans’ rights against unconstitutional restrictions on their right to possess arms, which are owned by tens of millions of their fellow citizens,” she added.
According to the New York Times, this is the second lawsuit in two days filed by the Trump administration against gun-control policies in Democrat-led Colorado, continuing a broader push against the state’s policies during President Donald Trump’s second term. On Tuesday, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against Denver over a 1989 city law banning a wide range of semiautomatic weapons.
The Justice Department argued that Denver and the Colorado state legislature’s language in drafting their laws was misleading and influenced by political bias. In Wednesday’s filing, the DOJ insisted that the magazines that carry more than 15 rounds under Colorado’s ban were not actually “large capacity” firearm magazines.
Promises made, promises kept. The DOJ just sued the City of Denver over their AR-15 ban. pic.twitter.com/4TrDTFVDG1
— Hannah Hill (@hannahhill_sc) May 5, 2026
The legal complaint said that they were regular magazines commonly used in popular firearms, including AR-15 rifles, further alleging that Denver officials used anti-gun rhetoric to describe the firearms targeted under the ban as “assault weapons.” City and state officials responded defiantly to both lawsuits.
“In reality, the firearms the City calls ‘assault weapons’ include ordinary semiautomatic rifles possessed by millions of law-abiding Americans,” the Justice Department said in its lawsuit against Denver.
The lawsuit comes days after the shooting deaths of three people in a span of a week in north Denver. According to The Colorado Sun report published on April 16, three people, including a man walking his dog and two people at an Easter picnic in a public park, were shot dead, following which a community meeting was called, and police presence had to be increased.
The first reported death occurred on Easter Sunday during a small gathering in the Cole neighborhood of Russell Square Park, at Vine Street and East 37th Avenue. Gunfire reportedly erupted after a vehicle driving through the park fired shots, while some people in the crowd at the picnic fired back. A 43-year-old died in the unintentional exchange of gunfire.
Meanwhile, the 18-year-old shot at the Easter party succumbed to his injuries on April 12. The Denver District Attorney’s Office chose not to file charges against the person who fatally shot the man, insisting that the accident was unintentional.
