BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today is celebrating a 2-1 ruling by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals which strikes down the ban on so-called “large-capacity magazines” in the District because it violates the Second Amendment.
The case, known as Benson v. U.S., could still have more hurdles, uch as an appeal by the District, seeking an en banc review. In the meantime, however, CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb is hailing the ruling as a major step forward, simply because of the influence it might have. Such magazine bans exist in some states, and they are all in the legal crosshairs.
“This is a major Second Amendment ruling,” Gottlieb observed. “You could say that it is the ‘second Shot Heard Around the World.’”
The majority opinion was written by Associate Judge Joshua Deahl, a Donald Trump appointee, who stated, “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.”
The significance of the federal government’s flip cannot be understated, Gottlieb suggested. While the District continues to defend the ban, the fact that the Trump administration now recognizes the Second Amendment protects magazines amounts to a legal tectonic shift.
“Whether anti-gun lawmakers and liberal judges realize it or not,” Gottlieb said, “Judge Deahl’s opinion means the Second Amendment has teeth. The gun prohibition lobby just got smacked, because this ruling puts one of their major arguments in the corner, where it belongs.”
Judge Deahl was joined in his opinion by Judge Catherine Friend Easterly, a Barack Obama appointee. Writing a dissent was Chief Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby. There has been no announcement from the District about whether it will appeal.