Federal judge grants temporary restraining order against Colorado county gun ordinance

A federal judge has approved a temporary restraining order that bars Boulder County from enforcing part of an ordinance that bans the sale of assault weapons and large capacity magazines.

A pair of gun rights advocacy groups, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) and the National Foundation for Gun Rights (NFGR), recently sued the county’s Board of Commissioners, which passed new gun control ordinances earlier this month.

U.S. District Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney approved the order on Tuesday that halts the ordinance’s enforcement for two weeks.

“Plaintiffs allege that their Second and Fourteenth Amendment rights will be violated by the Ordinance and therefore satisfy [the irreparable harm] factor,” Sweeney wrote in the order.

The order still allows the county to enforce a part of the ordinance that bans rapid-fire trigger activators.

RMGO has sued several local governments – including the cities of Boulder, Louisville, and Superior – over similar firearm ordinances in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association (NYSRPA) v. Bruen.

“We are on fire, we just can’t stop winning in the courts,” RMGO Executive Director Taylor Rhodes said in a statement Tuesday. “Because of the correctly decided Bruen decision authored by Justice Thomas this summer, the floodgates are open, and we are taking back the rights that evil tyrants stole from us.”

“All judges, no matter their political persuasion, will be forced to rule that our right to keep and bear arms cannot be infringed – and that’s exactly why this TRO was issued,” he added.

RMGO also said that Superior, Louisville, the city of Boulder, and Boulder County have asked for their individual cases to be consolidated.