Less than two weeks before 10 people died in a March 22 mass shooting at a supermarket in Boulder, CO, a state district court judge issued a ruling blocking the city from enforcing its ban on assault weapons. 
Boulder passed the law in 2018 following the high school mass shooting in Parkland, FL. However, the ban has been challenged by gun rights groups on the state and federal level in the 3 years since.
Andrew Hartman, a Boulder County district judge, ruled against the city's enforcement of the ban on March 12. His decision cited a 2003 Colorado law that forbids local communities from restricting firearms that are legal elsewhere in Colorado under federal and state law.
To be clear: It is not yet confirmed if the provisions of Boulder's 2018 assault weapons ban would've necessarily prevented the suspect's actions.
But the timing of the mass shooting just 10 days after the judge's decision served as painfully ironic timing for local gun reform advocates like Dawn Reinfeld, who told the Washington Post:
'We tried to protect our city. It’s so tragic to see the legislation struck down, and days later, to have our city experience exactly what we were trying to prevent.'
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