Attorney General: Lawsuit over ammo loading limit will fail

FILE - This Oct. 3, 2013, file photo shows a custom-made semi-automatic hunting rifle with a high-capacity detachable magazine. FILE - This Oct. 3, 2013, file photo shows a custom-made semi-automatic hunting rifle with a high-capacity detachable magazine. Photo: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press Photo: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Attorney General: Lawsuit over ammo loading limit will fail 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A lawsuit filed on behalf of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League and the Second Amendment Foundation claims the state statute that prohibits people from loading more than 10 rounds of ammunition in a gun is unconstitutional.

Since 2013, Connecticut law prohibits people from selling or purchasing high-capacity ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. Existing owners before the law passed were allowed to keep the magazines.

But a different part of the same law prohibits those grandfathered owners from loading the magazines beyond 10 rounds unless they are at home or at a shooting range.

“This imposes an unconstitutional burden on the right of the people to keep and bear arms,” the lawsuit claims, citing the Second and Fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

State Attorney General William Tong on Wednesday said that the U.S. Supreme Court has left such matters be handled on the state basis, noting that a similar challenge failed in 2014.

“Common sense gun violence prevention measures are clearly constitutional,” Tong said. “Reasonable limits on high capacity magazines save lives. The vast majority of the American people support — and demand — these basic public safety measures. My office will vigorously defend Connecticut’s law and our state’s right to protect communities from senseless violence and tragedy.”

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, said the plaintiffs are seeking a “preliminary and/or permanent injunction” preventing the state from enforcing the statute. The suit also seeks attorney’s fees and costs.

Susan Ross, a Moodus resident, and Domenic Basile, an Oakville resident, are also listed as plaintiffs in the suit.

The suit is brought against Col. Stavros Mellekas of the Connecticut State Police; James Rovella, commissioner of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection; and Richard Colangelo, Connecticut’s chief state’s attorney.

The CCDL is a nonprofit corporation based in Southbury. The Second Amendment Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C.

The 2013 law, adopted four months after the Sandy Hook shootings, required owners of magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammo to inform the state. It also required registration of most guns that use large-capacity magazines.

The lawsuit states that Ross owns a handgun and magazines that each hold 17 rounds of ammunition. Ross also has a valid permit to carry, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit claims that magazines like those “are in common use for lawful purposes, including self-defense. Firearms loaded with more than 10 rounds of ammunition are therefore not dangerous and unusual weapons.”

The plaintiffs are seeking “declaratory judgment” that the Connecticut law “violates the Second and Fourteenth Amendments,” the suit indicates.

The lawsuit also seeks to have an injunction that stops the defendants “and their officers, agents, servants, employees and all person in concert or participation with them” from enforcing the law.