Boulder AR-15 Ban

[KevDen2005]

This opinion brought to you live from a booth at Chili’s—because this is what nerdy folks do when they’re having dinner alone! :-)

I feel sad for a number of reasons now...

[Alpha2]

I just read the Judge Meyer decision on the lawsuit between Denver and the State of Colorado.

It seems to me that the decision upholding Denver’s assault weapon ban was based on Denver convincing the judge that Denver was unique in population density and crime rate such that it has different needs as compared to the rest of the state.

The concept of State preemption was discussed because the State had recently enacted a law stating that the State was assuming authority for all laws concerning firearms. Judge Meyer mentioned in his ruling that the Denver assault weapon law existed before the State law declaring the regulation of firearms to be a State issue. In his discussion of whether or not a State could just declare itself sole authority on an issue, Judge Meyer cited several cases that suggest that a State declaration should be weighed heavily, but the declaration of authority isn’t an automatic win for the State.

In lawyer terminology, the discussion of whether a State can just declare itself the supreme authority on an issue and the issue of whether the State’s preemption legislation was enacted before or after the Denver assault weapon ban would be referred to as Dicta. It’s important discussion, but it’s not the primary reason the case was decided the way it was.

In the vernacular of my favorite Civil Procedure Professor, Lucy Marsh, the black letter law from the Meyer decision is that if a local municipality can convince the court that that particular municipality has sufficient special circumstances that require special laws for that particular municipality, then that municipality can make its own special law.

Of course if Boulder pulls this shit, the State should argue that the timing of the State preemption law is VERY significant and should preclude Boulder from enacting an assault weapon ban. They’ll also argue that Boulder doesn’t have the population density or the crime rate of Denver—as others have already pointed out in this thread.

Bottom line is that the way I’m reading it, I think it could happen and the ultimate decision as to whether it’s upheld will be left to the court system. As we’ve all witnessed, the courts have increasingly become heavily influenced by politics and frequently issue strained decisions inline with their party’s position on any given issue.

This opinion brought to you live from a booth at Chili’s—because this is what nerdy folks do when they’re having dinner alone! :-)

give me a call, I'll join you for dinner. I'm retired now, got nuthin' but time on my hands. Oh, you're buyin'.

[hollohas]

That's all BS. The preemption law is either valid or not. The entire notion that Denver is somehow special enough not to follow Colorado law is absurd. State law can only be statewide or not at all. What hogwash.

(This post is directed at the stupid judge that decided it, not NFAtrustguy )

Every rural municipality should claim they have special circumstances that outweigh the state mag ban.

[.455_Hunter]

You guys better hope that Boulder gets slapped down, otherwise it's open season on gun owners in pretty much every major urban city in the state.

[NFATrustGuy]

You guys better hope that Boulder gets slapped down, otherwise it's open season on gun owners in pretty much every major urban city in the state.

This is correct.

[Great-Kazoo]

You guys better hope that Boulder gets slapped down, otherwise it's open season on gun owners in pretty much every major urban city in the state.

Not likely to happen

[electronman1729]

I remember once reading a statistic the Boulder county has the highest number of NFA owned per person than any other county in the US.

[KevDen2005]

I remember once reading a statistic the Boulder county has the highest number of NFA owned per person than any other county in the US.

How many years ago was that? I remember as a kid it seemed like a lot of gun lovin folks in rural Boulder County....not so sure anymore. I would be very interested to see if that was still the case or not.

[electronman1729]

Maybe when I was at CU in 2008?

[KevDen2005]

Maybe when I was at CU in 2008?

A decade ago, seems like yesterday...