The Department of Justice Civil Rights Division’s Second Amendment Section has launched a lawsuit against the city of Denver over its ban on so-called “assault weapons.” The DOJ argued that when the city banned AR-15s with standard capacity magazines in its ordinance, it violated the Second Amendment.”

The court filing stated, “The Ordinance uses politically charged rhetoric. The term ‘assault weapon’ is not a technical term used in the firearms industry. Rather, as Justice Thomas has aptly noted, ‘assault weapon’ is a rhetorically charged political term developed by anti-gun publicists.” The filing added, “In reality, the firearms the City calls ‘assault weapons’ include ordinary semiautomatic rifles possessed by millions of law-abiding Americans. Indeed, Americans own literally tens of millions of AR-15 style rifles, the paradigmatic ‘assault weapon’ covered by the Ordinance.”

Among the weapons covered under the ban are “Any semiautomatic pistol or centerfire rifle, either of which have a fixed or detachable magazine with a capacity of more than fifteen (15) rounds” and “Any semiautomatic shotgun with a folding stock or a magazine capacity of more than six (6) rounds or both.”

The DOJ argues that the ordinance from Denver violates the Bruen test set forth in the 2022 Supreme Court ruling. “The Ordinance makes it a crime to keep and bear AR-15 style rifles with standard capacity magazines. AR-15 rifles are bearable arms. Therefore, the Ordinance implicates the plain text of the Second Amendment. Under Bruen step one, the Ordinance is presumptively unconstitutional.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement, “The Constitution is not a suggestion and the Second Amendment is not a second-class right. Denver’s ban on commonly owned semi-automatic rifles directly violates the right to bear arms. This Department of Justice will vigorously defend the liberties of law-abiding citizens nationwide.”

Civil Rights Division Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said, “I have directed the Civil Rights Division, through our new Second Amendment Section, to defend law-abiding Americans from restrictions such as those we are challenging in these cases. Law-abiding Americans, regardless of what city or state they reside in, should not have to live under threat of criminal sanction just for exercising their Second Amendment right to possess arms which are owned by tens of millions of their fellow citizens.”