Judge to Boulder: Sorry, You’re Still In Colorado
Boulder, Colorado really, really wants to be California.
If you live in Colorado and own guns, chances are quite good that you already have a snide nickname for Boulder, Colorado (I like “Boulderfornia” myself) because the city has developed a real antipathy to the Second Amendment. This is in pretty striking contrast to the rest of the state, which has historically been very gun-friendly. However, the folks who are abandoning California for Colorado to escape high taxes and crime rates are changing the demographics as well as some of the attitudes. Today, however, the anti-gun takeover of Boulder has been dealt a blow by one judge. His stunning legal ruling? That Boulder is still part of Colorado and needs to follow its laws. The Second Amendment Foundation (and we) heartily concur.
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The Second Amendment Foundation applauds a ruling by Colorado District Judge Andrew Hartman, who struck down a Boulder city ordinance that outlawed possession, sale or transfer of semi-automatic sporting rifles and magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds.
“This wasn’t our case,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “but it was the right decision by Judge Andrew Hartman. He ruled against the city ordinance because it violated Colorado’s state preemption law, which prohibits such local ordinances as the one in Boulder. Anti-gun politicians and organizations target such laws because they require uniformity in state gun laws and prevent the creation of legal minefields designed to trip up law-abiding citizens.”
Gottlieb is also delighted that the media alluded to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June 2010 that incorporated the Second Amendment to the states via the 14th Amendment. This was a SAF case known as McDonald v. City of Chicago, which nullified that city’s long-standing ban on handguns.
Judge Hartman’s ruling is another victory for state preemption, Gottlieb noted, coming soon after a Washington State Court of Appeals panel ruled unanimously in a SAF lawsuit that the City of Edmonds acted illegally when it adopted a so-called “safe storage” requirement a few years ago. SAF and the National Rifle Association challenged that restriction and a similar one in the City of Seattle. Washington has one of the earliest preemption statutes, which has been used as a model for similar laws in other states.
In Colorado, Judge Hartman wrote, “The Court has determined that only Colorado state (or federal) law can prohibit the possession, sale, and transfer of assault weapons and large capacity magazines…the State of Colorado has passed laws that are effectively a scheme preempting local governments from enacting municipal firearms and magazine possession ordinances.”
“This is the way state preemption laws, which we wholeheartedly support, are supposed to work,” Gottlieb said. “Our hats are off to the plaintiffs in this case, Robert Chambers and James Jones, Gunsport of Colorado and the Colorado State Shooting Association. Their victory is a win for all Centennial State gun owners.”
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As the COVID-19 pandemic has released more urban people from having to commute to a physical office, more urban people will be moving to rural areas and states. When they do, they usually remember to pack their anti-gun attitudes in the U-Haul next to the living room sofa. Colorado is one of the first states to be hit by this trend, but it won’t be the last. Are you seeing shifting attitudes towards the Second Amendment where you live? Tell us in the comments!
now only if we could get SOMEONE, ANYONE to do this in New CCP, sorry i mean New York
The influx of people to the Front Range communities has turned a red state to a blue state and now the state legislature is busy infringing our second amendment rights with an whole slew of bills to require mandatory storage, deadline for lost or stolen guns etc. They have already passed “red flag” laws and magazine restrictions as well as “universal background checks”. We need help but theNRA is conspicuously absent and has been for years. I would vote with my feet but I can’t afford to move. The beautiful state of Colorado is rapidly becoming Californicated.
Here in Washington State, we are facing many of the same issues. My favourite tactic when confronting local politicians about gun control is to ask the question: Is this a state-wide problem or is it restricted to your locality? They will usually start spouting statistics at which point you interrupt and ask if the stats are for the whole state or their locality, usually a city.
Keep pushing for an answer; it will usually boil down to the largest city in the state, in my case Seattle. At which point I ask: Why are you making a state issue out of a Seattle problem? Why would you limit the people of an entire state when it is the people in a relatively small geographic area that are the problem? Tell the Seattle City Council to fix their own problem and leave the rest of us alone. I worked for the Seattle City Council for a while and was not impressed with their collective intelligence. In your case maybe it is Denver or Boulder, but I think you get the idea.
‘Cant afford to move’? If you can afford a computer and a internet subscription you can afford a U-Haul. There; I fixed it for you.
1. AR does not mean assault rifle. AR is short for Armalite Rifle. Armalite is the first company to make this rifle and it was sold to the Airforce during Vietnam.
2. The difference between an automatic rifle and a semi-automatic rifle is:
a. When you pull and HOLD the trigger back (that is, you don’t release the trigger) on the AUTOMATIC rifle it will continue to fire until the magazine is empty;
b. When you pull the trigger on the SEMI-AUTOMATIC rifle it will only fire (shoot) ONE round. You can hold the trigger there all day long and nothing else will happen. In order to shoot a second round you MUST release the trigger and pull it a second time. In order to empty the magazine you have to release the trigger and pull the trigger again. This must be done each time in order to empty the magazine. If the magazine holds 15 rounds the trigger must be pulled and released 15 times to empty the magazine.
(If this is not correct tell me where I am wrong.)
To many people have no idea what a firearm is or how to handle a firearm. Our political ?leaders? want us to believe that AR means automatic or assault rifle. It does not. These so called leaders don’t want to tell the truth to the people.
It always amazes me how people leave an area because they are unhappy with their rules or laws . As soon as they are settled into the new area , they try to remake it into the area that they left and were unhappy with . Is this just normal human nature or do people just have that short of a memory ?
Just dumb people
Agreed. It is pure stupidity by the sheeple who take their politics with them.
They still want to control the people who surround them because they think they know everything and have all the answers when in reality they know nothing and have no answers.
Agreed. Happening at every state in which they flee too. Texas, Florida. Could it be by design in a more long-term play? These statist are crafty and methodical like that. Wouldn’t put it pass them.
Or, is it because they are ignorant of history and refuse to become enlightened, Most seem to have “small minds”.
These people moved there with the intention of bringing their gun grabbing laws with them. They are not fooling anyone and need to go back to Ca if they don’t like guns. They came there so have to go by the laws there.
Never forget half the folks you meet on any given day are below average.
Boulder became Californicated more than 20 years ago. The entire I-25 Corridor has been following suit, slowly but steadily. We moved there in 2001 to escape NJ (no, not natives of NJ but there were jobs in the region when I had to find work back in the ’80’s). By2001, I could finally afford to leave and headed back west, Colorado passed “Shall issue” soon after we arrived. Things were looking good for quite a few years until somebody came up with the idea of “Vote by Mail.” From there, they went to “Medical Marijuana” and now, “Legalized Recreational Marijuana.” That brought all the “stoners” off their couches to vote and the entire state headed downhill…fast! Now, well…you can’t win an election when you are running against “Santa Claus,” can you? The Dem’s have offered every incentive in the world, the East Coasters and the Left Coasters have moved in and brought their attitudes and fears (against inanimate objects) with them and the liberal population centers along the Front Range and The People’s Republic of Boulder have voted or cheated their way to take over the government of the state. (Thank Heaven for Lauren Boebert!) We left a few years ago and came back (for me) to Texas. At least I know that if the libs try to take over Texas, I won’t be standing against them alone.
‘If I owned Texas and Hell I would rent out Texas and live in Hell’ – General William Tecumseh Sherman. ‘Nuff said.
Boulder was such a beautiful place when I visited there in the summer of 1969. It was nice enough that I had even considered going to college there in the early 70s. Now you couldn’t give me a plugged nickel to live there.
Larry said anti-gunners should go through firearms training, they should be required to get a year’s study of the history of the Revolution, the second paragraph of the declaration of Independence, and the origins and debates on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights which were the results of the failure of the Articles of Confederation. That’s what the founders were referring to when they said in order to form a more perfect union, not as some people assume, a better government than colonialism. Oh, and teach that you don’t move for something better and haul your garbage with you.
I think a class III STAMP is only authorized if you have a GUN DEALER LICENSE TO BOOT.. So unless you are a gun store owner or one of those LESS than 1% ‘yes who own both the STAMP and LICENSE…I doubt you own a AUTOMATIC ASSAULT WEAPON. BESIDES: A AR-15 is “NOT” a ASSAULT WEAPON by definition: NO AUTOMATIC SWITCH, NO BAYONET STUD, NO REQUIREMENT FOR A CLASS III STAMP OR DEALER LICENSE. Get your terminology right and knowledge before making idiotic flames and statements. End of Line.
That should read:…”idiotic ‘CLAIMS’ AND STATEMENTS.”
Denver county, Colorado has been getting worse year after year. More like California all the time.
Too bad all this energy wasn’t directed at the border where guns criminals drugs and bodies are flowing unchecked now thanks to the destabilization regime,no one is gonna protect the taxpayers when all they care about is adding chaos and confusion.
Chaos and confusion is just a byproduct. The REAL reason is VOTES!
Amazing how all these people fleeing from the socialist states are only turning their new homes into the same hell holes.
I live in Iowa and newcomers and some local governments have tried that here. Bashing gun owners and other firearm ventures. But voters and state preemptive laws. , as well as the IFC , NRA, and the Izaak Walton, have defeated anti-gun efforts here in the Hawkeye state. We don’t need out of state attitudes here. Please leave your anti second amendment views behind and enjoy life !
We fled Connecticut because of idiotic laws, and moved to North Carolina. There are a couple of oddities here- open carry with no permit, concealed with a permit; and without a permit, you need a purchase permit to buy a handgun. Holdover from the old “Jim Crow” laws. We also have property in Vermont, but Burlington is the largest city, and has control of the rest of the state. Now they have magazine restrictions, until they throw the governor out.
All these people trying to change or restrict the 2nd amendment should have to go through 1 year of firearms training and through education beforehand, it should become a law at the federal level.
I live in Florida thank haven, we fled the US SOCIALIST STATE OF MARYLAND for just such nonsense. Stupid Gun laws such as being A non issue state, and every other restriction they could come up with, high taxes, and a 80 year one party rule. Truly an example of how not to run a state. To close to Washington DC.
Florida is in danger 2022 anti gunner probably running for governor
YES!! I live in Virginia and have all my life (except 2yrs in Maine ) I have noticed a influx of people from New York and New Jersey in recent years. We in Virginia welcome all, but they’re bringing there idiotic political beliefs (which has destroyed their states) here. Virginia is rapidly becoming just like stupidfonia!!!! We (FREEDOM LOVING) Virginians are thankful for groups like NRA, GOA, NSSF etc. who help us fight for our GOD GIVEN RIGHTS.
This is awesome …..We need more judges in our country that follow the law instead of there political leanings…When evil politicians changes laws to suit there will and trample our freedoms at the same time there not doing the good or right thing there instilling tyranny..And must be removed from office ASAP.
People from California should keep there political ideas out of Colorado unless they want the same problem they had in california.
It’s not the people coming in from CA into Boulder, as a Native of Colorado….Boulder has always been that way. We call it the People’s Republic of Boulder. Do a search its unfortunately a widely known title for Boulder, Colorado. .
Hopefully more 2A friendly states will consider Sactuary 2A “state” status to counter the federal overreach “laws” that may get thru..
Did the writer wake up late ? Look up and down the I-25 corridor, it is California-east. Steadily becoming californicated in it political tone, inflated real estate prices, taxes, freebie demands, and in this case misguided beliefs in 2nd Amendment, police policies, and intitlements. Don’t feel alone , look at Az. and Texas.
Assault weapons are fully automatic. You must have a Class III Stamp for these. People throw around terminology like popcorn, especially the Libtards.
They think all guns are like in Scarface say hello to my little friend…….
No, that is incorrect. Assault RIFLES are, by definition, fully automatic (or select fire capable of multi shot bursts). If you are going to criticize people about using the wrong word (commonly referred to as malapropism), make sure that you are using the right word. “Assault Weapon” is a term that was basically made up by the anti-gun crowd and is similar to, and easily confused with, “Assault Rifle”. It is used with the intention to confuse people who are not knowledgeable about firearms or just don’t pay full attention to the exact wording of statements. The definition(s) of Assault Weapon are mostly cosmetic, vary from state to state and, sometimes, vary from municipality to municipality. There was a federal “Assault Weapons ban” (and definition) which has now expired. The anti-gun crowd wants the confusion so that people will, hopefully, think that those “scary black rifles” (most commonly AR-15s and AK-47s) are capable of automatic fire just like assault rifles (such as M-16s). It has gotten to the point that firearms which can be classified as assault weapons are commonly referred to as assault rifles.
If it is the color of the firearm which scared/offends them, perhaps we could Cerakote them in Blaze Orange; or even shocking neon pink for the ladies? LOL
There are more murders with little pistols than AR-15 type gun, but its those idiots who use an civilian AR type of gun to kill a bunch of unarmed people at once are the ones who causing the backlash against these weapon system.
I am pissed at these *&^&% idiots
I like the term modern sport rifle (MSR), and I love my MSR over any other rifle we have, its modular with several different uppers, light weight, low recoil. Easy for my wife and kids to use.