Rifle club, talk show host Caldara, shooting gear manufacturer sue city
Radio and TV personality Jon Caldara, the Boulder Rifle Club and Bison Tactical have filed a federal lawsuit claiming Boulder’s new ordinance banning assault weapons and increasing the age of legal gun ownership to 21 violates their constitutional rights.
Bison Tactical, a Boulderbased maker and seller of shooting gear, the rifle club and Caldara, who lives in Boulder, would continue possessing and selling assault weapons if not for the unanimous decision Tuesday to ban the weapons inside city limits.
“The right of self-defense is an unalienable, natural and fundamental right,” says the lawsuit filed Wednesday by Mountain States Legal Foundation attorneys Cody Wisniewski and Sean Smith. “The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution memorializes the right of self-defense.”
The city’s ordinance, the lawsuit claims, infringes “upon the rights of all of Boulder’s 108,707 residents.”
The rule prohibits the sale and possession of assault weapons and outlawed high-capacity magazines and bump stocks. Owners of the large magazines and bump stocks have until July 15 to dispose of or sell them. People in possession of assault weapons as defined by the city can keep their guns. They have until the end of the year to receive a certificate proving prior ownership.
The lawsuit identifies City Manager Jane Brautigam, Police Chief Gregory Testa, Mayor Suzanne Jones, Mayor Pro Tem Aaron Brockett and seven Boulder council members as defendants.
The plaintiffs are seeking a declaratory judgment finding the ordinance unconstitutional and a permanent injunction enjoining the city from enforcing it. They also want compensatory damages and reimbursement for attorney’s fees and other costs in bringing the lawsuit.
Caldara, who lives in Boulder, hosts talk-radio programs on 850 KOA and 630 KHOW as well as “Devil’s Advocate with Jon Caldara” on Colorado Public Television 12. He also is president of the Independence Institute, a libertarian-leaning Colorado think tank.
The lawsuit says Caldara owns one or more gun magazines capable of accepting more than 10 rounds, which is legal under state and federal law but not under the new ordinance. Caldara also owns one or more firearms that are banned by the new rule.
Caldara and the other plaintiffs fear punishment if they “continue to acquire, possess, use, sell and/or transfer the lawfully owned, constitutionally protected firearms and magazines that are banned by Ordinance 8245,” the lawsuit says.
Violating the rule could result in sentences of up to 90 days in jail and fines of up to $1,000. It bans certain pistols and semi-automatic rifles with pistol grips, a folding or telescoping stock or any protruding grip that allows a weapon to be stabilized with the non-trigger hand.
The bylaws of Boulder Rifle Club, which has existed since 1889, require it to support the constitutional right of all its members to keep and bear arms, the lawsuit says. By bringing this lawsuit, the club is representing the interests of its hundreds of members, the lawsuit says.
Boulder resident Tyler Faye, 20, also is named as a plaintiff.
He owns one or more firearms in compliance with state and federal law but cannot possess them in his home city because he is not yet 21, the lawsuit says. Faye also has magazines that accept more than 10 rounds.