NRA bragged about blocking Boulder AR-15 ban a week before Boulder mass shooting

Boulder King Sooper supermarket after mass shooting
(Image credit: Chet Strange/Getty Images)

A Colorado judge blocked Boulder from enforcing its two-year-old assault rifle ban on March 12, ruling it violated a 2003 state law prohibiting municipalities from enacting their own firearms regulations. Boulder city spokeswoman Shannon Aulabaugh said city attorneys would meet to decide on whether to appeal the ruling by Boulder County District Court Judge Andrew Hartman, The Denver Post reported March 18, but in the meantime, the Boulder Police Department wouldn't enforce the ban on AR-15-style rifles and large-capacity magazines.

The National Rifle Association celebrated the ruling last Tuesday, noting its supporting role in striking down the ban. A week later, a gunman opened fire in a Boulder supermarket, killing 10 people, including a Boulder Police officer.

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Police have not yet publicly identified the suspected shooter or the type of weapon used. But "one senior law enforcement source told CNN the weapon used in the shooting was an AR-15-style rifle," CNN reports. Boulder enacted its ban in response to the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, carried out — like many mass shootings — with an AR-15.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.