Suit filed over law limiting gun rounds

HARTFORD, CONN. » Gun rights supporters are suing Connecticut officials over part of a 2013 state gun control law passed after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, saying it unconstitutionally bans people from loading more than 10 rounds of ammunition into their firearms.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court cites the Second Amendment right to bear arms and the ability of people to better defend themselves with more bullets in their guns.

“Law abiding gun owners in Connecticut are left more susceptible to harm or death by being limited in their means of self-defense,” Holly Sullivan, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, said in a written statement. “Criminals who are intent on doing harm will not follow this same law.”

The defense league, the Second Amendment Foundation and two Connecticut gun owners filed the lawsuit against Public Safety Commissioner James Rovella, state police Col. Stavros Mellekas and Chief State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo Jr., none of whom were in their current jobs when the gun control law was passed.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that states can regulate firearms to protect public safety, said state Attorney General William Tong, whose office will defend state officials and the gun law.

“Commonsense gun violence prevention measures are clearly constitutional,” Tong said in a written statement.

State officials passed some of the strictest gun control laws in the country after a gunman used an AR-15-style rifle to kill 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook in Newtown on Dec. 14, 2012.

The laws included a ban on ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. People who owned “large capacity” magazines before the law took effect were required to notify the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection and were allowed to keep them, but are prohibited from putting more than 10 rounds in them.

Gun control supporters say the law can save lives by limiting how many bullets a shooter can fire before having to reload.

But gun rights supporters say that magazines that hold more than 10 rounds are considered standard and that many firearms are not available with magazines that hold fewer than 10 rounds.