Two gun rights groups Thursday filed three separate lawsuits against Louisville, Boulder, and Boulder County over new gun control laws recently passed by each entity, challenging the constitutionality of the measures.
The two cities and Boulder County were named as defendants by the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and the National Foundation for Gun Rights in the lawsuits which were filed in the U.S. District Court.
The gun rights groups argue in their lawsuits that their right to keep and bear arms is being directly infringed upon by the local governments, according to a RMGO news release. Last month, RMGO filed lawsuits against the Town of Superior, Gov. Jared Polis and the state of Colorado.
Gun control laws in Boulder and Louisville ban possessing certain semi-automatic rifles and standard capacity magazines. Boulder County also is facing a lawsuit based on their recently passed banning of the sale and transfer of certain semi-automatic rifles and standard capacity magazines, the news release states.
“Last month, we promised our members we would sue over these unconstitutional gun control laws and today we are making good on our promises,” the news release states. “Again, it doesn’t matter how big or how small the localities are — if you pass unconstitutional gun control, we will sue you,” said Taylor Rhodes, executive director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, in the news release.
“RMGO is proud to have filed the first two post-Bruen cases in America, and based on our early success against the Town of Superior, the floodgates are open, and we are taking back the rights that evil tyrants stole from us.”
The news release states that RMGO and NFGR are funding the lawsuits, challenging their constitutionality in light of the recent Supreme Court decision NYSRPA v. Bruen.
In the Bruen case, the Supreme Court rejected “intermediate scrutiny” – the cost/benefit analysis framework that allowed lower courts to rule against the Second Amendment – and established that the standard for applying the Second Amendment is the text, history and tradition of the right to keep and bear arms; thereby invalidating the lower court rulings’ justification for gun control, the news release states.
“Everytown for Gun Control and Michael Bloomberg know that the Bruen decision eviscerated the ‘standing’ they had to put unconstitutional strangleholds on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans,” said Dudley Brown, President of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners in the news release.
“So, they’re scrambling, spending millions of dollars, to pass local gun control laws — hoping that ordinary citizens won’t pay attention as they demolish gun rights one town at a time. But we’re paying attention, and I’m looking forward to destroying them in court, ” Brown said
The full text of the lawsuits filed can be found at the following hyperlinks: Louisville , Boulder and Boulder County .
RMGO also states it is considering a similar lawsuit against Lafayette for its new gun control laws.
Boulder County has yet to be served with the lawsuit. But the county did release a statement:
“Gun violence poses a grave public safety threat in Boulder County. On August 2, 2022, the Boulder County Board of County Commissioners adopted five ordinances designed to prevent gun violence. One of those ordinances prohibited the sale and purchase of assault weapons, large capacity magazines, and trigger activators,” according to the statement.
“The County learned today that a group filed a lawsuit challenging that ordinance. Boulder County will defend against the lawsuit and demonstrate that the assault weapons ordinance is constitutionally sound.”
