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Contact: Ian Escalante

(888) 874-3006

office@rmgo.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, May 5, 2026

DENVER – Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) today celebrated the United States Department of Justice’s lawsuit against the City and County of Denver over its unconstitutional ban on commonly owned semi-automatic firearms.

For more than a year, RMGO has demanded federal action against Colorado’s growing war on the Second Amendment. RMGO leaders traveled to Washington, D.C., met with DOJ officials, and delivered more than 60,000 petitions from gun owners demanding that the federal government stop ignoring the civil rights of Colorado gun owners. Now, the DOJ has taken up that fight.

The lawsuit challenges Denver’s so-called “assault weapons” ban, which criminalizes peaceable gun owners for possessing firearms that are among the most commonly owned rifles in America.

“Denver politicians have spent decades pretending the Second Amendment stops at the city limits,” said Dudley Brown, President of RMGO. “Today, the Department of Justice put them on notice. You do not get to shred the Constitution, criminalize peaceable gun owners, and call it public safety. Denver’s gun ban is unconstitutional, immoral, and long overdue for the ash heap of history.”

RMGO’s former Chief Legal Counsel, Barry Arrington, now serves in the Second Amendment Section of the DOJ Civil Rights Division, the very division tasked with defending the constitutional rights of gun owners against state and local infringement.

“This is exactly why RMGO never backs down,” Brown continued. “We pushed, our members fought, and now the full weight of the Department of Justice is being brought against one of Colorado’s most notorious gun control schemes. This did not happen by accident. It happened because gun owners refused to be quiet.”

“For years, Denver has treated the Bill of Rights like a suggestion,” said Ian Escalante, Executive Director of RMGO. “They banned commonly owned rifles, threatened peaceful citizens with criminal penalties, and dared gun owners to fight back. Well, now the fight is here. RMGO members helped drag this issue all the way to Washington, D.C., and today the anti-gun politicians in Denver are finally facing consequences.”

RMGO is also aware of unconfirmed reports that the DOJ may be considering additional Second Amendment actions in Colorado – including action against the 2013 Standard Capacity Magazine Ban law. While those reports have not been verified, RMGO says it will continue to press the federal government to act whenever Colorado politicians violate the right to keep and bear arms.

“If this is the first shot across the bow, then good,” Escalante said. “Colorado has become a playground for anti-gun extremists, and Denver is only one piece of the problem. RMGO will keep pushing until every unconstitutional gun law in this state is exposed, challenged, and defeated.”

Rocky Mountain Gun Owners has long argued that bans on commonly owned firearms violate the plain text of the Second Amendment and recent Supreme Court precedent. The organization says Denver’s ordinance is exactly the kind of law anti-gun politicians pass when they believe no one will force them to answer for it.

“Anti-gun politicians should understand something very clearly,” Brown concluded. “The days of trampling gun owners and expecting no consequences are over. RMGO is not going away. Our members are not going away. And now, the Department of Justice is in the fight.”

Rocky Mountain Gun Owners is a 501(c)(4) organization headquartered in Loveland, Colorado, with a mission to hold politicians accountable and protect the right of peaceable Americans to defend themselves, their families, and their property—without begging the government for permission. Since 1996, RMGO has led the fight against gun control with the support of more than 200,000 members and grassroots activists statewide.

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