By Dave Workman
In a 2-1 split decision, a three-judge panel of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals has ruled that the District’s ban on ammunition magazines is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.
The D.C. Court of Appeals—not to be confused with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit—is considered the equivalent of a state supreme court, as explained at Wikipedia.
The case at issue is known as Benson v. U.S. The plaintiff, Tyree Benson, was convicted of violating the District’s ban on so-called “large-capacity magazines” (LCMs) after police found him in possession of an unregistered semiautomatic firearm equipped with a loaded 30-round magazine.
Writing for the majority, Associate Judge Joshua Deahl, a Donald Trump appointee, noted, “Appellant Tyree Benson argues that ban contravenes the Second Amendment so that his conviction for violating it should be vacated. The United States, which prosecuted Benson in the underlying case and defended the ban’s constitutionality in the initial round of appellate briefing, now concedes that this ban violates the Second Amendment.”
Even after the United States switched its position on this case, the District of Columbia continued to defend the ban.
Judge Deahl was joined in his opinion by Judge Catherine Friend Easterly, a Barack Obama appointee.
“Magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition are ubiquitous in our country,” Judge Deahl wrote, “numbering in the hundreds of millions, accounting for about half of the magazines in the hands of our citizenry, and they come standard with the most popular firearms sold in America today. Because these magazines are arms in common and ubiquitous use by law-abiding citizens across this country, we agree with Benson and the United States that the District’s outright ban on them violates the Second Amendment.”
Adding to that, Benson’s conviction for violating the magazine ban was reversed, and “because Benson could not have registered, procured a license to carry, or lawfully possessed ammunition for his firearm given that it was equipped with a magazine capable of holding more than 10 rounds, we likewise reverse his convictions for possession of an unregistered firearm, carrying a pistol without a license, and unlawful possession of ammunition.”
While the ruling only affects the municipal magazine ban, it could be considered an important ruling as similar magazine bans in various states are now being challenged.
In her dissent, Chief Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby observed, “(T)he majority declares that LCMs are in common and ubiquitous use and therefore cannot be regulated or banned because that would constitute an infringement upon Second Amendment rights. The majority bases its common usage analysis on ownership statistics that show only that magazines holding 11, 15, or 17 rounds of ammunition are in common use. The majority, however, fails to contend with the reality that these statistics do not support the conclusion that the particularly lethal 30-round magazine, such as the one Mr. Benson possessed here, is in common use for self-defense. It simply is not.”
Further, Judge Blackburne-Rigsby argues, “The majority’s opinion conflicts with the legal framework for both facial and as applied constitutional challenges. Under our precedents, we can declare the LCM ban facially invalid and unconstitutional only if Mr. Benson establishes that there are no lawful circumstances to which the LCM ban would apply. But even accepting that standard handgun magazines typically holding 11, 15, or 17 rounds of ammunition are in common use, there is no similar support for 30+ round magazines. Likewise, Mr. Benson’s as-applied challenge, for which we consider the particular factual circumstances of his gun possession, fails too. He cannot successfully show that the LCM ban, as applied to his possession of a gun with 30 rounds in its magazine, violates the Second Amendment, because there is no statistical support for concluding that such a lethal weapon is in common use for lawful purposes.”
Workman is editor-in-chief at TheGunMag.com
