Harmeet Dhillon Just Sued Colorado the Day After Denver Told Her to Go to Hell

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston told Harmeet Dhillon "Hell, no" on Monday.

She filed the next lawsuit 24 hours later.

And buried inside Colorado's own legal record is something the state has been counting on nobody ever using against them.

Colorado Has Been Criminalizing Standard AR-15 Magazines Since 2013

Colorado's magazine ban makes it a crime to possess any magazine capable of holding more than 15 rounds.

The magazines that ship standard with AR-15-style rifles – the ones sitting in the box when you buy the most popular rifle in the United States – are criminal contraband in Colorado.

The state has previously stipulated in its own legal proceedings that its ban covers magazines that come standard with the most popular firearms in America.

That admission is now sitting inside the federal complaint filed today by Dhillon's Civil Rights Division.

Colorado Democrats knew exactly what they were doing in 2013 and have been defending it ever since.

The Trump Justice Department is ending that.

DOJ Sues Denver Over AR-15 Ban and Follows It With Colorado Lawsuit in 24 Hours

On Monday, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston stood on the steps of the City and County Building and told reporters the city would not repeal its 37-year-old assault weapons ban.

"Hell, no," Johnston said.

Dhillon had sent Denver a letter the previous week warning the city to cease enforcement or face a federal lawsuit.

Johnston's answer came Monday morning. The lawsuit hit Tuesday.

Dhillon posted on X: "Just sued Denver. How's your day going?"

Colorado's governor and attorney general both defied the same demand – Colorado's attorney general called the action a "dangerous overreach" – and on Wednesday, Dhillon filed the companion lawsuit against the state.

Two days. Two lawsuits. Zero tolerance for politicians who think the Bill of Rights is optional.

What Heller and Bruen Actually Say About AR-15 Magazine Bans

The legal framework here is not complicated and it has not changed.

In District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008, the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding citizens to possess arms in common use for lawful purposes.

The federal complaint puts the number of magazines like those Colorado banned at hundreds of millions in circulation – owned by Americans for lawful purposes including self-defense.

That is the definition of "in common use."

Colorado's own Supreme Court tried to ignore this in 2020 when it upheld the ban, explicitly writing that U.S. Supreme Court Second Amendment precedents did not "control" its analysis.

That is a state court telling the Supreme Court of the United States to get lost.

The 2022 Bruen decision made that position impossible to defend.

Bruen replaced the interest-balancing test courts had used to gut the Second Amendment with a strict historical-tradition requirement – meaning the government must now show a historical tradition of banning commonly owned arms, and there is no such tradition in American history going back to 1791.

Why Colorado Could Be the Case That Forces SCOTUS to Decide

This is not an isolated legal action.

It is the fourth Second Amendment civil rights lawsuit the Trump DOJ has filed – following actions against the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and now Denver and Colorado in back-to-back days.

Dhillon has said publicly that she believes the Supreme Court will eventually rule that AR-15 bans are unconstitutional nationwide.

She called such bans "low-hanging fruit" under Heller and Bruen, and she is right.

Justice Kavanaugh has already written that Americans own an estimated 20 to 30 million AR-15s, that they are legal in 41 states, and that the Court should address the constitutional question "soon, in the next Term or two."

The DOJ is now in federal court creating the circuit split that forces the Supreme Court's hand.

Democrats in Colorado and Denver spent years betting that no administration would ever use the power of the Civil Rights Division to defend gun owners.

They bet wrong.

Dhillon walked into their states and told them that Americans who own standard factory magazines are not criminals – and the federal government is now in court to prove it.

Sources:

• U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Justice Department Sues Colorado for Unconstitutional Weapons Ban of Standard-Capacity Firearms Magazines," May 6, 2026.
• U.S. Department of Justice, United States v. Colorado, Civil Rights Division complaint, Case No. 1:26-cv-01950, filed May 6, 2026.
• U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Justice Department Sues the City of Denver for Unconstitutional Weapons Bans," May 5, 2026.
• Bearing Arms, "DOJ Files Suit Challenging Colorado Magazine Ban," May 6, 2026.
• Ammoland, "DOJ Is Finally Fighting Hardware Bans. Now SCOTUS Needs To Step In," May 6, 2026.
• U.S. Supreme Court, District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008).
• U.S. Supreme Court, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022).