FPC Sues Denver and Colorado — 37-Year City AR Ban Meets Bruen and a SCOTUS Clock

Three Denver-area gun owners joined FPC and CSSA in a federal complaint filed June 30 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, naming the city, Governor Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, State Patrol, and Denver District Attorney John Walsh.

The targets are familiar: Denver's ordinance criminalizing possession of semiautomatic rifles the city labels assault weapons, and Colorado's statewide prohibition on magazines holding more than 15 rounds under C.R.S. § 18-12-302. Plaintiffs argue both measures function as bans on common arms and magazines in ordinary use — the Bruen question the Supreme Court will hear next term in Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins.

The timing is not accidental. FPC president Brandon Combs framed the filing as part of a national strategy to "eliminate tyrannical bans." Denver Mayor Mike Johnston had already defied a Justice Department demand to repeal the city ordinance in May; DOJ filed its own suit against Denver, citing Heller's protection for arms in common use.

Complete Colorado reported the complaint's core historical argument: Denver and the state cannot show a tradition of banning magazine-fed semiautomatic rifles before the 20th century while Americans have owned repeating arms for centuries. The suit also attacks Denver's grandfather scheme — even permit holders cannot sell or transfer banned firearms inside city limits, destroying a lawful market plaintiffs say peaceable residents depend on.

CSSA's Huey Laugesen called the bans a denial of "rights guaranteed by the Constitution." Vice president Kolby Zipperer put it plainly: "the courts — not politicians in Denver — will decide whether the Second Amendment means what it says."

For Colorado owners, Elliott v. Denver is the local front of a national fight the Supreme Court already agreed to hear. City hall and the Capitol will defend the bans. The docket will move through motions while owners watch whether federal judges treat AR-15 cases as settled after cert — or keep pretending Bruen was a suggestion.

Follow Elliott v. Denver and the DOJ parallel suit on WTF News. The 37-year Denver ordinance is not grandfathered against the Constitution forever.