Overview
- A three-judge panel ruled 2–1 that the District’s magazine-capacity law is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.
- Judge Joshua Deahl wrote the majority opinion joined by Judge Catharine Friend Easterly, with Chief Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby dissenting.
- The court vacated Tyree Benson’s conviction for the magazine violation and also reversed related firearm and ammunition counts.
- The United States, a party to the case, told the court the ban is unconstitutional, a rare concession that supported the majority’s analysis.
- The dissent argued 30-round magazines are not commonly used for self-defense and invoked the historical 'dangerous and unusual' standard, as the District weighs en banc review or a Supreme Court appeal against earlier precedent upholding similar limits.