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# On Numberless Dead Bodies and Weapons of War Being Necessary to the Security of a Free State!
March 25 2021
Written by Abby Zimet.
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**FURTHER**--There's an especially infuriating backstory to the latest [slaughter ](https://www.thedailybeast.com/boulder-police-respond-to-active-shooting-situation-at-king-soopers?ref=home)of 10 innocents in America, this time in the bubble that was Boulder, CO.
Two years ago, after the mass shooting in Parkland, Boulder became the center of a landmark legal [battle ](https://www.denverpost.com/2021/03/18/boulder-colorado-assault-weapon-ban-order/)between the gun lobby and the city after Boulder's City Council [passed ](https://www.denverpost.com/2021/03/18/boulder-colorado-assault-weapon-ban-order/)two ordinances banning the possession of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines.
Boulder is blue country; it's also in a state that's seen some of the country's most horrific mass shootings, including [Columbine - ](https://www.history.com/topics/1990s/columbine-high-school-shootings)after which the GOP [shielded](https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/2000a_sl_235.pdf) gun manufacturers from lawsuits - [Planned Parenthood, the Aurora theater, and a S](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/28/us/colorado-planned-parenthood-shooting.html)[TEM school in Highlands Ranch. ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEM_School_Highlands_Ranch_shooting)In response to the ban, a right-wing group backed by the [local,](https://www.westword.com/news/nra-lawsuit-against-boulder-colorado-assault-weapons-ban-10431247) always hungry-for-blood NRA brought a lawsuit against it and any other potential local weapons ban, [arguing ](https://www.westword.com/news/boulder-assault-weapon-ban-lawsuit-and-tie-to-gay-marriage-10338086)Boulder was "putting gun owners back into a closet, and that goes against everything Boulder claims to stand for” - a bizarre claim about such a crunchy-peace-and-love-flavored town.
But last Thursday a district judge, who may or may not be one of the many judges [with ties](https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/courts/news/2013/02/14/53076/nra-working-to-elect-pro-gun-judges-and-prosecutors/) to the NRA-funded, [pro-gun ](http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/87273-1)front group Law Enforcement [Alliance ](https://www.commondreams.org/further/2021/03/22/%20website)of America, [said ](https://www.denverpost.com/2021/03/18/boulder-colorado-assault-weapon-ban-order/)the city "cannot prohibit the possession or sale of firearms."
Citing a [2003 state law](https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/next/would-colorados-firearm-preemption-law-stop-boulders-assault-weapons-ban/73-536113594) enacted by a GOP legislature that preempts cities and towns from restricting assault weapons, Judge Andrew Hartman [ruled ](https://www.commondreams.org/further/2021/03/22/%20Judge%20Andrew%20Hartman%20ruled%20March%2012%20that%20the%20city%20cannot%20enforce%20its%20ban%20because%20under%20state%20law,%20local%20governments%20cannot%20prohibit%20the%20possession%20or%20sale%20of%20firearms.%E2%80%9CThese%20provisions%20are%20invalid,%20and%20enforcement%20of%20them%20is%20enjoined,%E2%80%9D%20Hartman%20said.%20%E2%80%9CThe%20Court%20has%20determined%20that%20only%20Colorado%20state%20(or%20federal)%20law%20can%20prohibit%20the%20possession,%20sale%20and%20transfer%20of%20assault%20weapons%20and%20large-capacity%20magazines.%E2%80%9D)Boulder's "provisions are [invalid ](https://www.kmjnow.com/news/colorado-judge-blocks-boulder-from-enforcing-assault-weapons-lcm-ban/)and enforcement of them is enjoined” because only state or federal law can enact common-sense measures against mindless mass murder that [work ](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271939348_The_impact_of_state_and_federal_assault_weapons_bans_on_public_mass_shootings)and over 80% of America supports.
The ruling was [greeted ](https://www.commondreams.org/further/2021/03/22/%20https%3A/jacobinmag.com/2021/03/boulder-colorado-assault-weapons-mass-shooting-massacre-nra/)with jubilation by an obscene NRA that a few years ago had [mounted](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/11/us/colorado-lawmaker-concedes-defeat-in-recall-over-gun-law.html) vicious revenge campaigns against Democratic pols who backed modest statewide gun control measures.
The Boulder ruling was icing on the cake: The NRA [crowed ](https://www.nraila.org/articles/20210315/victory-in-colorado-preemption-case)gun-owners should celebrate a "very thoroughly and thoughtfully written" opinion that will make it harder for other cities to try passing "any similar counterproductive ordinances,” "counterproductive" being NRA-ese for "life-saving."
The right-wing [*Free Beacon*](https://freebeacon.com/guns/colorado-judge-strikes-down-boulders-ar-15-ban/) also rejoiced, “Preemption winning streak continues for gun advocates."
On Monday, before city officials even had time to decide if they'll appeal, the winning streak kept going its blood-slick way when a sick moron his classmates called "short-tempered, violent and paranoid" strolled into a King Soopers supermarket [carrying](https://www.commondreams.org/further/2021/03/22/ike%20the%20one%20) - surprise! - an [assault rifle a](https://twitter.com/David_Leavitt/status/1374327196425277447)nd murdered 10 people, because in this country just because you survived a pandemic that doesn't mean you can safely go to the fucking grocery store, or a massage parlor, or a school, or a church, or a club, or...anywhere without becoming a victim of random, out-of-control [gun violence,](https://twitter.com/hashtag/guncontrol?lang=en) which is why Boulder was, despite under-reporting, the [*seventh* ](https://www.commondreams.org/further/2021/03/22/%20https%3A/www.cnn.com/2021/03/23/us/7-mass-shootings-7-days-trnd/index.html)mass shooting in *seven* days, 'cause freedom!
As the Boulder [news](https://twitter.com/shannonrwatts/status/1374152884665917440?s=21) surfaced, the NRA, with its inexhaustible chutzpah, [tweeted](https://twitter.com/NRA/status/1374149559484551171) the [text](https://twitter.com/NRA/status/1374149559484551171) of the Second Amendment: "A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
A well-balanced populace, being concerned more about each other than guns or profit, [shrieked](https://twitter.com/aditinfinite/status/1374195554067054593), "*Well regulated?!?*!" many times; they also lamented a "[sick society](https://www.commondreams.org/further/2021/03/22/numberless-dead-bodies-and-weapons-war-being-necessary-security-free-state#GunControlNow)" of "insecure dick wavers" and proposed, "Fuck yourselves, death merchants."
Congress, for God's sake and all of ours, do your job.
*(Abby Zimet writes for CommonDreams.org … where this piece was first posted.) Photo credit: Fleeing the scene. Photo by Michael Ciaglo, Denver Gazette. Front photo by Reuters)*
*-cw*
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