DOJ's Colorado Suit Proves Magazine Bans Are Civil-Rights Violations Now

Read the May 6 complaint as a civics lesson.

The Justice Department sued Colorado alleging the large-capacity magazine ban criminalizes possession of standard-capacity magazines in common use — magazines that ship with AR-15-style rifles, the most popular rifle platform in the country. The state previously admitted the statute reaches factory-standard equipment. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon called the ban political virtue signaling against a right protected since Heller.

That framing matters. Magazine bans were sold as crime control for decades. DOJ now places them in the Civil Rights Division's Second Amendment Section — the same institutional lane as voting and housing cases. The government is arguing hardware prohibition, not criminal misuse.

Private plaintiffs and SAF/FPC litigation continue in parallel. Federal muscle does not suspend state criminal statutes overnight. Colorado owners still need compliance counsel until injunctions land.

And yet. The national template is clear: ban common magazines, lose on Heller's common-use test, fundraise off the injunction, pass a renamed bill next session. Maryland's Glock ban is the handgun version. California's AB 1127 is the export model.

Submit complaints to DOJ's Second Amendment Section when your state copies Colorado. Fund the private suits that move faster than press releases.

Sign up for WTF News at wtfnews.tv — magazine politics are federal now, not just statehouse theater.