Known nationally as “the People’s Republic of Boulder,” the city at the foot of the majestic Colorado Flatirons does many strange things, but recently it went totally off the rails by adopting an ordinance banning some of the most commonly used firearms and magazines in the United States.
Attorneys from the Mountain States Legal Foundation attended the Boulder City Council meeting as it debated the final version of the ordinance and told city council members the ordinance violated several provisions of the Constitution, the Colorado Constitution, and Colorado law. They did not care; they passed it anyway. The next day, the Mountain States Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit in Colorado federal district court.
We sued on behalf of Jon Caldara, a pillar of the community and an outspoken opponent of the ban; the Boulder Rifle Club, which has represented the community and firearm owners since 1889; Bison Tactical, a small Boulder business that caters to competitive shooters and those seeking to defend themselves; and Tyler Faye, a 20-year old man who, for the first time since he turned 18, may not own a gun, thanks to Boulder’s actions.
On May 15, the Boulder City Council passed Ordinance 8245, amending the Boulder Revised Code to ban a vast number of rifles, shotguns, pistols, and magazines, as well as raising the minimum age for firearm possession to 21. The ordinance, which does not apply to Boulder County residents who do not live in the city, was passed unanimously, despite an overwhelming number of public statements, telephone calls, and emails expressing concerns with and opposition to the new ordinance. Those who, intentionally or not, violate the ordinance are subject to up to $1,000 in fines and 90 days in jail per violation.
Sadly, for those now at risk of criminal disarmament by Boulder, its ordinance is nothing more than useless virtue-signaling, value-shaming, and sloganeering.
Boulder bans, within its city limits, the purchase, possession, sale, and transfer of some of the most popular firearms and self-defense tools in the United States. Nonetheless, those exact firearms and tools may be bought, owned, sold, and conveyed no more than 5 minutes from where the council made its decision, not to mention throughout the state of Colorado and across the United States.
For those who wish to keep their legally purchased but newly banned firearms, they must register them with the Boulder Police Department by presenting them, providing personal information, passing yet another background check, and paying a fee. Those who wish to protect their privacy rights but still comply with the ordinance must remove their newly-banned firearms from the city limits, or render them permanently inoperable, or surrender them, without any form of compensation, to the Boulder Police Department. As for residents’ magazines Boulder just banned, which are legal at the state and federal level, they must be removed, surrendered, or destroyed.
Good grief, where to begin?
Of course, we begin with the Second Amendment, which protects the unalienable, natural, and fundamental right of self-defense. Then there is the due process clause, which provides, “No person shall … be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” a protection against “arbitrary action of government,” which includes ex post facto laws. Also, the takings clause, which provides “private property [shall not] be taken for public use, without just compensation.” Plus, the privileges or immunities clause, which protects the right to keep and bear arms against state infringement. Then, as to those residents who feel compelled to register their legal, but banned, firearms with Boulder police, there is the First Amendment’s bar on compelled speech. Of course, these violations are in addition to the many ways the ordinance violates Colorado’s Constitution and state laws.
For law-abiding Boulder residents, however, the issue is much simpler. If they wish to exercise their right to defend themselves and the lives of their loved ones effectively, the city has turned them into criminals.
William Perry Pendley is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is president of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, has argued cases before the Supreme Court and worked in the Department of the Interior during the Reagan administration. He is the author of Sagebrush Rebel: Reagan’s Battle with Environmental Extremists and Why It Matters Today.
