SUPERIOR, Colo. — A gun-rights group has filed a lawsuit against the Town of Superior and the Boulder County Sheriff for a recently-passed ordinance that put stricter gun laws in place, claiming the ordinance violates their constitutional rights.
The Town of Superior Board of Trustees passed the ordinance that changes the town’s municipal code regarding the possession and use of weapons on June 7. Some of regulations in the 21-page ordinance include:
- Banning “assault weapons,” which the town defines as “a semi-automatic center-fire pistol with a fixed magazine that has the capacity to accept more than ten (10) rounds,” and large-capacity magazines, which is defined as having “the capacity to accept more than ten (10) rounds”
- Banning carrying a concealed weapon
- Prohibiting possession of a firearm on property under the town’s control, including public parks
- Implementing a waiting period of 10 days to buy a firearm
Exemptions are in place for law enforcement and members of the military. The ordinance also allows for anyone who owned an assault weapon before July 1, 2022 to obtain a certificate for the weapon by Dec. 31, 2022.
The Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and Superior resident Charles Bradley Walker filed the lawsuit in federal court Thursday, saying the ordinance violates Superior residents and RMGO members’ Second and Fourteenth Amendment rights, including “their constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms without being subjected to criminal prosecution, and to continue to lawfully possess and/or transfer property that they lawfully obtained,” according to the lawsuit. Walker currently owns certain semi-automatic firearms and magazines that are now considered illegal in Superior that he has possessed “lawfully for years,” the lawsuit says.
“Superior’s anti-gun ordinance flies directly in the face of our right to keep and bear arms, and we’re not going to stand idly by and let this town – or any other rogue government – trample on our right to self-defense,” said Taylor Rhodes, executive director of RMGO.
The lawsuit also addresses the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, which struck down a New York gun law that required a person applying for a license has to show a specific need to carry the weapon.
“Frankly, last month’s Bruen decision gave gun rights organizations a 4-ton wrecking ball to dismantle gun laws that we have known to be unconstitutional since their conception. If you think this stops in the small town of Superior, you are mistaken; this has the potential to hold much broader implications,” Rhodes said.
Before the Supreme Court’s decision, scholars said it’s possible multiple recently passed gun laws in Colorado could all be impacted by Bruen.
Neal Shah, a Town of Superior Trustee, said the town hadn’t been served the lawsuit as of Friday morning, so he could not provide a comment on it.