Second Amendment

DOJ Challenges Denver's 'Assault Weapon' Ban and Colorado's Magazine Limit

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon argues that both laws violate the Second Amendment by banning arms in common use for lawful purposes.

Jacob Sullum | 5.7.2026 2:25 PM

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Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon (Midjourney)

The Department of Justice this week filed two Second Amendment lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, challenging that state's ban on "large capacity" magazines and Denver's ban on "assault weapons." Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general in charge of the department's Civil Rights Division, argues that both laws are unconstitutional for the same reason: They ban arms in common use for lawful purposes, which the Supreme Court has said are covered by the Second Amendment, and there is no "historical tradition" that would justify such a policy, as required by the Court's 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.

"The Constitution is not a suggestion and the Second Amendment is not a second-class right," Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Tuesday after the lawsuit against Denver was filed. "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."

Denver's ordinance was enacted in 1989, the same year that California became the first state to ban so-called assault weapons, a politically defined category that typically hinges on arbitrarily disfavored rifle features such as pistol grips, folding stocks, and flash suppressors. But Denver's ordinance, which prohibits the sale, transfer, or possession of "assault weapons" within city limits, defines the term to include any semi-automatic pistol or center-fire rifle with a fixed or detachable magazine that holds more than 15 rounds. It therefore covers many of the most popular guns sold in the United States when they are equipped with standard-issue magazines, including AR-15-style rifles.

The complaint in United States v. Denver notes that "the term 'assault weapon' is not a technical term used in the firearms industry" but rather "a rhetorically charged political term developed by anti-gun publicists." It adds that the guns banned in Denver "include ordinary semiautomatic rifles possessed by millions of law-abiding Americans." For example, "Americans own literally tens of........

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