politics
Justice Department Sues Colorado Over Gun Laws, Indicts James Comey
The Justice Department under Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche challenged Colorado's 15-round magazine limit and Denver's assault weapon ban last week, citing the Supreme Court's 2022 test. Separately, Comey faces a second indictment in late April 2026 over an Instagram post of seashells arranged as "86 47." The moves come weeks after President Trump fired Pam Bondi.
May 13, 8:00 AM·3m read3 sources
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The Trump administration filed two lawsuits last week in Colorado challenging the state's 15-round magazine limit and Denver's assault weapon ban. Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, argues that both measures are unconstitutional because they ban arms in common use for lawful purposes and lack a historical tradition justifying them.
Dhillon deployed the same argument against the District of Columbia's assault weapon ban in a lawsuit filed in December 2025 by the Civil Rights Division's Second Amendment Section.
The Supreme Court clarified the constitutional test for gun control laws in 2022, and at least four justices appear inclined to view such restrictions skeptically. U.S. Virgin Islands over its handgun carry permit requirement.
U.S. Virgin Islands imposes a vague, highly discretionary requirement for publicly carrying handguns that resembles a New York law struck down by the Supreme Court in 2022. The Justice Department is investigating the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which takes as long as 18 months to act on carry permit applications.
A federal law authorizes the attorney general to seek civil remedies for a law enforcement pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of their constitutional or statutory rights. "The Constitution is not a suggestion and the Second Amendment is not a second-class right," Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said last week.
Even as it pursues these gun rights cases, the Trump administration has defended the Gun Control Act's ban on firearm possession by unlawful drug users. The Supreme Court will soon decide a case centered on that ban. The administration has also defended the Gun Control Act's disarmament of people with nonviolent felony records.
The gun rights litigation unfolded against a backdrop of high-profile criminal cases at the Justice Department. James Comey was indicted a second time in late April 2026, just weeks after Trump fired Pam Bondi as attorney general in part because she failed to successfully prosecute Comey and other Trump enemies.
