Colorado Supreme Court Upholds Large-Capacity Gun Magazine Ban

DENVER, CO — The Colorado Supreme Court has upheld the state's ban on large-capacity gun magazines. In a unanimous ruling Monday, the justices found that the ban doesn't violate people's right to bear arms under the Colorado Constitution.

The gun reform law was passed in 2013 after deadly mass shootings, including the Aurora theater shooting and the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Connecticut. The law's sponsor said high-capacity magazines that hold more than 15 rounds are designed to quickly kill many people.

The Rocky Mountain Gun Owners filed a lawsuit that challenged the ban. The group said the law violated Colorado residents' right to bear arms.

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"The court concludes that the legislation is a reasonable exercise of the police power that has neither the purpose nor effect of nullifying the right to bear arms in self-defense," the justices wrote in the order.

"In recent decades, Colorado has been the setting of two of the nation’s most notorious mass shootings: Columbine High School in 1999 and the Aurora movie theater in 2012. In both attacks, the shooters used large-capacity ammunition magazines. Collectively, the shooters killed over two dozen people and wounded scores more."