A U.S District Judge today issued a temporary restraining order to block Boulder County from enforcing one of the five gun control ordinances county commissioners approved Aug. 2.
U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney took aim at the ordinance related to the prohibition banning the sale, transfer and manufacturing of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in unincorporated Boulder County.
Two gun rights groups — Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, or RMGO, and National Foundation for Gun Rights — filed an amended complaint Aug. 18 against the county, targeting the ban on the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. The temporary restraining order will be in effect for 14 days and a hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 8.
The judge’s order does not apply to the sale and purchase of rapid-fire trigger activators.
Sweeney’s ruling is a nearly identical ruling by a different federal judge against the city of Superior, according to a new release from the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners.
Two weeks ago, RMGO filed lawsuits against Boulder County and the cities of Louisville and Boulder challenging the constitutionality of the laws and arguing citizens’ right to keep and bear arms is being directly infringed upon, according to the news release.
“We are on fire, we just can’t stop winning in the courts,” said Taylor Rhodes, executive director of RMGO, said in the news release.
“Because of the correctly decided Bruen decision authored by Justice Thomas this summer, the floodgates are open, and we are taking back the rights that evil tyrants stole from us. All judges, no matter their political persuasion, will be forced to rule that our right to keep and bear arms cannot be infringed – and that’s exactly why this TRO was issued,” Rhodes said.
Shortly after Sweeney’s ruling, it was announced that Superior, Louisville, Boulder City, and Boulder County, all requested to consolidate the four cases into one. They have also agreed to suspend enforcement of their “assault weapon” and standard capacity magazine bans, pending the final decision on the injunction, according to the RMGO news release.
“The county plans to present a defense of its ordinance, along with the municipal ordinances, at a preliminary injunction hearing,” Gloria Handyside, spokeswoman for Boulder County said in an email. “ At the hearing, the county will demonstrate that its assault weapons ordinance is constitutionally sound.”
