Trump administration sues Colorado over firearm ammunition magazine limit

The Trump administration sued Colorado on Wednesday seeking to strike down a 13-year-old state ban on large-capacity firearm ammunition magazines, those allowing more than 15 bullets to be fired in rapid succession without the need to re-load.



The lawsuit claims that Colorado's restriction on gun magazines, enacted in 2013 in the wake of a mass shooting that killed 12 people and wounded 58 others inside an Aurora movie theater, infringes on the right to own and bear arms under the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment.



President Donald Trump's Justice Department argues that the rights of law-abiding gun owners are being violated in Colorado precisely because ammunition-feeding devices that hold more than 15 rounds are standard equipment for the most popular firearms in the U.S., numbering in the tens of millions.



Gun safety advocates counter that such high-capacity magazines are what make weapons designed to use them especially deadly in the hands of a mass shooter, enabling the assailant to fire more bullets repeatedly before pausing to reload. People in the line of fire thus have a smaller chance to escape, while law enforcement or bystanders have less time to intervene.