NRA bragged about blocking ban on AR-15 guns in Boulder days before mass shooting

Gunman opened fire at a supermarket in Colorado on Monday

A makeshift fence stands around the parking lot outside a King Soopers grocery store where a mass shooting took place a day earlier in Boulder, Colorado (AP)

The National Rifle Association (NRA) bragged about the blocking of a ban on AR-15 rifles in Boulder a week before a gunman reportedly used one in a mass shooting to kill ten people on Monday.

The Denver Post reported last week that a judge blocked Boulder from enforcing its two-year-old ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines in the city.

In response to the ruling, the NRA posted on its official Twitter account on 18 March saying: “A Colorado judge gave law-abiding gun owners something to celebrate.”

They bragged that in the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) supported case, the judge “stuck down” the ban.

“He ruled that the city of Boulder’s ban on commonly-owned rifles (AR-15s) and 10+ round mags was preempted by state law and STRUCK THEM DOWN,” they wrote.

Read more:

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• Everything we know so far about the Colorado supermarket attack
• Ted Cruz and other GOP senators mount fiery defence of gun ownership

On Monday afternoon, a gunman opened fire at a supermarket in the area afternoon, killing at least 10 people.

According to a report by CNN, one senior law enforcement source told the broadcaster that the weapon used in the shooting was an AR-15-style rifle.

Eyewitnesses told the police that a gunman, clad in black and holding a rifle, entered the King Soopers grocery store in Boulder around 3 pm on Monday and opened fire.

The suspect has been taken into custody but police told reporters that they are yet to find a motive.

The Post reported that city spokesperson Shannon Aulabaugh said Boulder city attorneys would meet following the judge’s ruling on the guns to decide whether they would appeal the decision.

The Boulder Police Department said they would not enforce the ordinance unless there is a later court ruling undoing County District Court Judge Andrew Hartman’s decision, the newspaper reported.

“These provisions are invalid, and enforcement of them is enjoined,” Mr Hartman wrote in his ruling, according to The Post.

“The Court has determined that only Colorado state (or federal) law can prohibit the possession, sale and transfer of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines.”

Following the mass shooting in Boulder, the NRA quickly defended gun ownership in another post on its Twitter account.

“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,” they wrote in reference to the second amendment.

Colorado has a long history of mass shootings, including the horrific Columbine High School shooting in 1999.

In 2012 a mass shooting occurred inside a movie theatre in Aurora during a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises.