DOJ sues Denver over ban on ‘assault weapons’ as city's Dem mayor says it 'will not be bullied'

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The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday that it has filed a lawsuit against Denver, Colorado, "alleging that the City unconstitutionally bans certain constitutionally protected semi-automatic rifles."

"These laws unconstitutionally infringe on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms in common use for lawful purposes," according to the DOJ.

"The Constitution is not a suggestion and the Second Amendment is not a second-class right," Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. "Denver's ban on commonly owned semi-automatic rifles directly violates the right to bear arms. This Department of Justice will vigorously defend the liberties of law-abiding citizens nationwide."

The 12-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado names the City and County of Denver, and the Denver Police Department as defendants. 

It said the city has an ordinance that makes it "a crime to carry, store, keep, manufacture, sell, or otherwise possess a so-called ‘assault weapon,’" but that the ordinance contains "politically charged rhetoric."

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A Bush Master AR-15 rifle is displayed at a store in Aurora, Colo.  (Joshua Lott/Getty Images)

"The term ‘assault weapon' is not a technical term used in the firearms industry. Rather, as [Supreme Court] Justice [Clarence] Thomas has aptly noted, ’assault weapon' is a rhetorically charged political term developed by anti-gun publicists," the complaint reads. "In reality, the firearms the City calls ‘assault weapons’ include ordinary semiautomatic rifles possessed by millions of law-abiding Americans. Indeed, Americans own literally tens of millions of AR-15 style rifles, the paradigmatic ‘assault weapon’ covered by the Ordinance. As the Supreme Court has recently recognized, the AR-15 is the most popular rifle in America."

"When the City banned AR-15 style rifles with standard capacity magazines, it banned an arm in common use for lawful purposes by law-abiding citizens," the complaint added. "Therefore, the Ordinance violates the Second Amendment, and the United States brings this action to vindicate the rights of Denver citizens whose rights have been — and are continuing to be — violated by Defendants."

Denver Democrat Mayor Mike Johnston blasted the federal government’s legal challenge, and said the city will not back down from its gun laws.

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Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, center, has blasted the federal government’s legal challenge regarding his city's gun laws. (Kent Nishimura/Reuters, File)

"Denver will not be bullied by any administration, especially one that has shown so little regard for public safety or the rule of law," Johnston said. "The federal government should be helping cities keep families safe, not making it easier for dangerous weapons to end up on our streets. We will fight with everything we have to protect our communities and defend Denver’s right to pass commonsense gun safety laws."

Johnston’s office said Denver’s ordinance, first passed in 1989, restricts the possession and sale of firearms with magazines holding more than 15 rounds and remains consistent with both Colorado law and the U.S. Constitution.

However, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division said Tuesday that, "I have directed the Civil Rights Division, through our new Second Amendment Section, to defend law-abiding Americans from restrictions such as those we are challenging in these cases."

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said "The Constitution is not a suggestion and the Second Amendment is not a second-class right." (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

"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," Dhillon continued.

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"In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its landmark decision District of Columbia v. Heller, held that the Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding citizens to possess weapons that are in common use for lawful purposes," the DOJ said.