Colorado judge blocked Boulder’s ban on assault weapons a week before King Soopers shooting
An assault-style weapons ban enacted by the city of Boulder was blocked by a Colorado state court about a week before a gunman opened fire inside a King Soopers grocery store Monday, killing 10 people.
A lone suspect was in custody after the mass shooting, an emotional Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said late Monday. Authorities have not yet identified the suspect nor have they revealed what weapons were used to carry out the heinous attack.
On March 12, Boulder County District Judge Andrew Hartman ruled that the city can not enforce its ordinances banning the possession, transfer or sale of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, citing a 2003 law that bars local governments from prohibiting the possession or sale of firearms, the Denver Post reported.
“The Court has determined that only Colorado state (or federal) law can prohibit the possession, sale and transfer of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines,” Hartman wrote in his ruling.
The city council voted to pass the pair of ordinances banning assault-style weapons after a 2018 shooting inside a Florida high school in the city of Parkland. Seventeen students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were killed in the Valentine’s Day attack.
It’s not clear whether city officials intend to appeal the recent court decision.
The state of Colorado on Tuesday was suffering through its latest mass tragedy, grieving the lives lost in the bloody King Soopers shooting. Hundreds of police officers from across Denver, including FBI and SWAT officers carrying ballistic shields, converged on the Boulder grocery store Monday around 3 p.m. local time.
At one point during the standoff, officers could be seen escorting a shirtless man in handcuffs, blood running down his leg, from the store. Authorities would not say whether he was the shooter, though Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said the suspect was the only person injured and receiving medical care.
Foothills Hospital in Boulder was treating one person from the shooting scene but refused further comment, said Rich Sheehan, spokesman for Boulder Community Health, which operates the hospital.
With News Wire Services
