JUST IN: DC Court Issues Major Win For Conservatives

Second Amendment advocates scored a major legal victory Thursday after a Washington, D.C., appeals court tossed out the city’s ban on high-capacity gun magazines.

In a 2-1 ruling in Tyree Benson v. United States and the District of Columbia, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals said the city’s prohibition on magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds violates the Constitution.

The majority concluded that the widespread use of larger magazines across the country places them squarely under Second Amendment protections.

“Magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition are ubiquitous in our country, 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,” the court wrote. “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.”

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The case stemmed from the October 2022 arrest of Tyree Benson, who was charged after police found him with a Glock 45 9mm handgun equipped with a magazine capable of holding 30 rounds.

The majority opinion said the widespread ownership of such magazines undermines the city’s attempt to ban them outright, arguing that items so commonly possessed by law-abiding Americans cannot easily be classified as prohibited weapons.

The opinion was written by Associate Judge Joshua Deahl, an appointee of President Donald Trump, and joined by Associate Judge Catharine Friend Easterly, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama.

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Chief Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby dissented, arguing the majority failed to grapple with the unusually large magazine involved in the case. She noted that many firearms owned by Americans typically use magazines holding 11, 15, or 17 rounds.

Blackburne-Rigsby also defended the city’s law by invoking the long-standing legal doctrine that governments may restrict “dangerous and unusual” weapons, a standard that remains contested in modern gun litigation.

The District of Columbia, which defended the magazine ban in court, could now ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case or seek reconsideration from a larger panel of the appeals court, according to The New York Times.

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