So the "shooting" happens right after a Boulder judge rules against individual municipalities being able to set the own tighter gun restriction laws.
Just a coincidence, I'm sure. Nothing to see here kids, move along…
I live about ten miles from that Kings Soopers and I can smell the FF from all the way up here.
I'm not saying this is what caused today's FF, but this is what caused today's FF.
Can Colorado cities enact their own gun restrictions? A Boulder judge says no.
New ruling could lead Colorado Supreme Court to settle the question
By (((ELISE SCHMELZER))) | eschmelzer@denverpost.com | The Denver Post
March 18, 2021 at 6:00 a.m.
A judge blocked Boulder from enforcing its 2-year-old ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines in the city, setting up the chance for the state Supreme Court to review whether Colorado cities can create their own restrictions on gun ownership.
Boulder County District Court Judge Andrew Hartman ruled Friday that the city can’t enforce its ordinance banning the possession, transfer or sale of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines because state law says local governments can’t prohibit the possession or sale of firearms.
“These provisions are invalid, and enforcement of them is enjoined,” Hartman wrote in his ruling. “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.”
Boulder city attorneys will meet with outside counsel this week to decide how to move forward and whether they will appeal Hartman’s decision, city spokeswoman Shannon Aulabaugh said. The Boulder Police Department will not enforce the ordinance unless there is a later court ruling undoing Hartman’s decision, she said.
If the case reaches the Colorado Supreme Court, justices there could for the first time issue a statewide ruling on whether local governments can pass more restrictive gun laws than those in state statute.
But lawyers look at more than just the facts of a case before deciding whether to take it to the highest court — they also look at the timing and the political climate, said Robert Wareham, a Highlands Ranch attorney who works in gun law.
“There are many of us looking for the ideal case to bring again,” Wareham said.
The Boulder City Council in 2018 passed two ordinances banning the possession of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines in the wake of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Flordia, that left 17 people dead.
The city defined large-capacity magazines as “any ammunition-feeding device with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds.” The assault weapon ban includes certain pistols and semi-automatic rifles with pistol grips, a folding or telescoping stock, or any protruding grip that allows a weapon to be stabilized with the non-trigger hand.
The council created a permit system for people who owned such a gun prior to the ordinance, allowing them to legally keep the weapons. People breaking the ordinance could face fines of up to $1,000 and up to 90 days in jail.
The decision spurred swift litigation at both the local and federal levels.
Two Boulder residents, the Colorado State Shooting Association and Boulder-based Gunsport of Colorado sued the city in the county’s district court, alleging the new ordinances violated Colorado law that says gun regulation is a matter of state and federal, not local, concern.
The state law, passed in 2003, states “a local government may not enact an ordinance, regulation or other law that prohibits the sale, purchase or possession of a firearm that a person may lawfully sell, purchase or possess under state or federal law.”
“Inconsistency among local governments of laws regulating the possession and ownership of firearms results in persons being treated differently under the law solely on the basis of where they reside, and a person’s residence in a particular county or city or city and county is not a rational classification when it is the basis for denial of equal treatment under the law,” the law states.
Attorneys for the city argued that Boulder had the right to pass the ordinance because it is a home-rule municipality and that the ordinance was necessary because of a lack of rules on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines at the state level. The judge disagreed, pointing to the list of weapons that are deemed illegal or dangerous by the state. The state did not include assault weapons and defined large-capacity magazines as having more than 15 rounds.
“The city of Boulder’s assault weapons and (large-capacity magazine) ban could create a ripple effect across the state by encouraging other municipalities to enact their own bans, ultimately leading to a statewide de facto ban or to a patchwork of municipal laws regulating assault weapons and LCMs,” Hartman wrote in his order.
An attorney for the plaintiffs did not respond Wednesday to an email requesting an interview.
More
https://www.denverpost.com/2021/03/18/boulder-colorado-assault-weapon-ban-order/