Trump DOJ Sues Colorado Over Large-Capacity Magazine Ban, Citing Second Amendment Rights
Why It Matters
The Trump administration’s legal challenge to Colorado’s magazine capacity restrictions signals a significant federal push to roll back state-level gun control laws — a move that gun rights advocates in Idaho and across the Mountain West are watching closely. If the lawsuits succeed, they could set precedent affecting similar laws in other states.
What Happened
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Colorado on Wednesday, challenging a state law that restricts the sale and possession of magazines capable of holding more than 15 rounds. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Denver, just one day after the DOJ separately sued the city of Denver over its ban on semiautomatic rifles.
The legal action follows a warning issued by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, demanding that both Denver and Colorado officials stop enforcing their respective bans by a Tuesday afternoon deadline. Denver City Attorney Miko Brown rejected that demand, calling it a federal overreach. Both lawsuits were filed before that deadline passed.
Both suits ask the court to prohibit the state and city from enforcing their bans and to require new policies and procedures be put in place.
In Their Own Words
Dhillon framed the lawsuit as a defense of constitutional rights, saying Colorado’s magazine restriction is “political virtue signaling at the expense of Americans’ constitutional right to keep and bear arms.” She added that the DOJ’s Second Amendment Section would continue challenging restrictions on firearms “owned by tens of millions” of law-abiding citizens.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat currently running for governor, pushed back sharply, calling the lawsuit a “dangerous overreach” that inverts the DOJ’s civil rights mission. “Large-capacity magazine laws are responsible policies,” Weiser said, vowing to “vigorously defend” the state’s law.
Ian Escalante, executive director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, welcomed the federal action. “They have been brazenly torching the Constitution and until now, have faced little to no repercussions,” Escalante said, calling the DOJ’s move the potential “beginning of the end of the gun control apparatus” in Colorado.
By the Numbers
- Colorado’s magazine capacity limit has been on the books since 2013, enacted in response to a mass shooting the prior year in Aurora.
- The 15-round threshold is the line drawn by state law — magazines exceeding that capacity are banned from sale and possession.
- Denver’s assault weapons restrictions date back to 1989, making it one of the longer-standing municipal gun bans in the country.
- The Colorado Supreme Court unanimously upheld the 2013 magazine law in 2020 following a state court challenge by Rocky Mountain Gun Owners.
- Colorado’s legislature passed a law last year requiring training requirements for semiautomatic firearm purchases, further tightening gun regulations.
Zoom Out
The dual lawsuits mark an aggressive federal posture on Second Amendment enforcement not seen in prior administrations. The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, traditionally associated with voting rights and civil liberties cases, has now turned its attention to gun rights — a reorientation that reflects the Trump administration’s stated priorities.
As the Supreme Court continues to face scrutiny over its role in major constitutional questions, lower federal courts will now be tasked with weighing whether state magazine restrictions survive the legal standard set by the court’s 2022 Bruen decision, which required gun regulations to be grounded in the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.
Across the Mountain West, states like Idaho have taken the opposite approach from Colorado — expanding gun rights and resisting federal encroachment. The outcome of the Colorado litigation could further reinforce or complicate that regional divide.
What’s Next
Colorado Attorney General Weiser has committed to defending the state’s law in court. Legal observers expect the case to move through the federal district court in Denver before likely heading to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Given the constitutional stakes and the DOJ’s direct involvement, the case could ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court, adding to a growing body of post-Bruen Second Amendment jurisprudence.
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