A Washington, D.C., appeals court handed Second Amendment supporters a major victory after striking down the city’s ban on gun magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.
The ruling marked a serious blow to one of the capital’s most aggressive gun restrictions.
In a 2-1 decision, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled in Tyree Benson v. United States and the District of Columbia that the city’s high-capacity magazine ban violates the Second Amendment.
The court said the ban cannot stand because the magazines are commonly owned across the country.
The judges made clear that magazines holding more than 10 rounds are not some rare or exotic accessory. They said the items are widespread, standard, and regularly used by law-abiding Americans who legally own firearms.
“Magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition are ubiquitous in our country, numbering in the hundreds of millions,” the majority wrote. The court added that those magazines account for about half of the magazines in the hands of American citizens.
The ruling went even further. The majority said these magazines also come standard with many of the most popular firearms sold in the United States today, a fact that undermined the District’s argument that they could be banned outright.
“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,” the court wrote.
The case began after Tyree Benson was arrested in October 2022. Police found him with a Glock 45 9mm handgun fitted with a 30-round magazine, which led to charges tied directly to the city’s magazine ban.
Once the appeals court decided the magazine ban itself was unconstitutional, the rest of the case quickly unraveled.
Benson’s other convictions tied to that underlying charge were also reversed because they depended on the enforcement of the same law, Trending Politics reported.
The opinion was written by Associate Judge Joshua Deahl, who was appointed by President Donald Trump. He was joined by Associate Judge Catharine Friend Easterly, an appointee of former President Barack Obama.
That crossover matters. The ruling was not just a one-party outcome driven by judges from the same political camp. An Obama appointee joined a Trump appointee in backing the Second Amendment challenge.
Chief Judge Anna Blackburne Rigsby dissented. She argued that the majority failed to seriously deal with the especially large 30-round magazine involved in the case and defended the city’s ability to regulate what it views as dangerous weapons.
Her dissent leaned on the long-running legal idea that governments can restrict “dangerous and unusual” weapons. But the majority was not persuaded because magazines with over 10 rounds are neither unusual nor hard to find in modern America.
That point became the heart of the ruling. If millions of Americans legally own an item and if it comes standard with some of the country’s most popular firearms, courts may have a much harder time treating it like contraband.
The fight is not over. The District of Columbia can still seek review from a larger panel of the appeals court or ask the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and weigh the issue.
