From the Mountain States Legal Foundation . . .
The City of Boulder, Colorado, has dismissed its own appeal in a case about its sweeping gun control ordinance, which had previously been defeated in state trial court. The dismissal of Chambers v. Boulder is also a victory for Center to Keep and Bear Arms’ (CKBA) clients, who separately challenged the same measure in a federal case called Caldara v. Boulder.
Earlier this year, a Boulder District Court judge ruled against the city’s ordinance based on its clear conflict with state law—a ruling that will now stand.
The dismissal of the Chambers case – with prejudice – leaves Boulder’s prior ordinance permanently struck down. And it means that the city can’t change its mind and try a renewed appeal on the vast majority of the 2018 measure, which unconstitutionally banned or restricted many popular, widely owned firearms and magazines.
CKBA challenged the same Boulder ordinance in federal court the day after its passage—as a violation of the People’s natural and constitutionally protected rights. This challenge included a September 2020 petition to the Supreme Court, in which MSLF argued that federal constitutional issues—and the People’s natural self-defense rights—were not being given appropriate priority.
While CKBA’s clients were not part of the state court case, the case’s dismissal with prejudice also vindicates their rights, and those of all Boulder residents.
“This outcome is a victory for our clients, as well as the plaintiffs in the Chambers case,” said Cody J. Wisniewski, Director of MSLF’s Center to Keep and Bear Arms. “It’s a win for the People at large, even if the fight against gun control in Boulder is certainly not over.”
“The federal courts should have taken the lead here, as we have fought for them to do over the years in the Caldara case,” Wisniewski noted. “But the state courts still did the right thing, and Boulder recognized its position was futile.”
“What matters most is that Boulder’s unconstitutional infringement has been permanently struck down.”
