City of Boulder Votes To Ban 'Assault Weapons,' Some Shotguns, Plan To Add More to Ordinance
Following the February mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, another city has voted to adopt strict gun control measures.
On Tuesday, Boulder, Colorado’s Boulder City Council unanimously passed a sweeping gun control ordinance that bans “assault weapons,” high-capacity magazines and bump stocks.
“Those possessing assault weapons already can keep them under the law, but owning bump stocks and high-capacity magazines will be become illegal in July. Certain law enforcement and military personnel are exempted from the ordinance,” Fox News reported.
The city defines assault weapons as “semi-automatic firearms designed with military features to allow rapid spray firing for the quick and efficient killing of humans.”
This includes “all semiautomatic action rifles with a detachable magazine with a capacity of twenty-one or more rounds,” as well as “semiautomatic shotguns with a folding stock or a magazine capacity of more than six rounds or both.”
The council passed the ban despite threats of ligation from the pro-Second Amendment non-profit Mountain States Legal Foundation.
During the council meeting Tuesday night, the group promised to challenge the ban in court, saying it violated “the Second, Fifth and 14th Amendments, (and) the Colorado Constitution.”
Councilwoman Mirabai Nagle acknowledged flaws with the ban, but voted for it nonetheless.
“We’re going to see a lot of court cases coming before us,” she said, according to Colorado Public Radio. “I think that we’re going to spend a lot of time and money. It’s not that lives aren’t worth that, but I think that there was a better way of going about this.
“I don’t agree with this ordinance in many ways,” she added. “It’s not perfect; I think we’re going to spend a lot of time and money.”
Others said they were hopeful the ban would be the first of many like it.
“My hope is that we will see more bans at the state level and one day at the federal level so these weapons will no longer be available,” said Boulder Councilman Aaron Brockett.
On Tuesday, the council tweeted that it would consider adding more gun control measures to the ordinance in the future.
In April, The Deerfield Village Board of Deerfield, Illinois, also voted unanimously to ban what they view as “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines, CBS News reported.
Gun owners in Deerfield have until June 13 to turn in their guns or remove them from the city limits. Residents who don’t comply with the ordinance will be fined up to $1,000 per day until their guns are removed.
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