84% of all Colorado sheriffs have filed a lawsuit against the new gun law that passed earlier this Spring in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting. The sheriffs are hoping to have the new restrictions invalidated because they believe they violate the Second Amendment.
The Colorado Legislature passed two laws that are set to take effect July 1 which limit the size of the of ammunition magazines to 15 rounds and expand background checks to private and online firearm sales.
Sheriffs from 54 of the state’s 64 counties are involved in the lawsuit because they believe it’s their duty to uphold the U.S. Constitution.
According to the Associated Press, El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said “We each took an oath. The line in the sand has been drawn, and we will stand united,” at the Friday Denver press conference announcing the lawsuit.
The National Rifle Association has issued a statement supporting the lawsuit filed Friday in federal court.
“The National Rifle Association, the many plaintiffs in this case, and the law-abiding gun owners in the state of Colorado know that the recently enacted gun control laws are unconstitutional,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action.
Colorado State Senator Mary Hodge (D-Brighton) the sponsor of HB 13-1224, limiting high-capacity magazines was disappointed at the filing.
“We diligently crafted these public safety laws with respect given to the Second Amendment constitutional rights of every American,” she said. “These laws were not constructed haphazardly; they were constructed to protect us from massacres like the ones we suffered in Aurora and Newtown. We worked with constitutional lawyers, and studied laws that we know worked in other states. We can’t just sit by and do nothing while first-graders and moviegoers are being mowed down in one fell swoop with weapons equipped with large-capacity magazines.
“The sheriffs who are filing these lawsuits are playing politics and playing into the strategy of the east-coast based NRA elites. Some of these particular politicians have even vowed not to implement these moderate public safety laws. Reasonable Coloradans know that one doesn’t need a large-capacity magazine for self-defense, and an instant background check isn’t an inconvenience because it can save lives. These reasonable public safety laws yield to every one of our constitutional rights, including our Second Amendment rights, and they promote domestic tranquility, a guarantee in the preamble of our constitution. It’s time to stop playing politics and start protecting Coloradans from massacres and unnecessary gun violence.”
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