US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro was always a bit of a questionable choice for the job for many people. Part of that was that she was a TV host, despite her past legal credentials. Trump likes TV hosts, though, as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth illustrates quite well. I honestly didn't care, because on paper, she had the resume one needed for the job.
But I wasn't crazy about her because she'd said some things on guns I wasn't fond of. I mean, she wasn't a fan of people owning so-called assault weapons. Still, she wouldn't be flying solo. She didn't have blanket authority, and when she stepped into the office, she started by saying some rules wouldn't be prosecuted while she was there. That was a good thing.
The problem is that now, she's giving me freaking whiplash over the city's magazine capacity law and her approach to it. I'm not the only one seeing it, either.
The Department should also be joining locals in celebrating the recent court decision in Benson v. District of Columbia. The case began when Tyree Benson was arrested for possessing a gun with a detachable, 30-round magazine. That was illegal because Benson had not registered the gun or obtained a carry license. But Benson had a compelling defense: the District would not have let him register the gun because it bans magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds — and that restriction is itself unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.
D.C.’s highest court agreed and, on March 5, a three-judge panel struck down the ban. A two-judge majority observed that “about half of the magazines in the hands of our citizenry” hold more than 10 rounds and “come standard with the most popular firearms sold in America today.” The Constitution does not let a locale ban such “arms in common and ubiquitous use by law-abiding citizens across this country.” The Benson decision now stands as a monument to common sense, protecting magazines that many Americans rely on.
Surprisingly, the court reached this decision with the encouragement of Pirro’s office. Though she had initially prosecuted Benson, she ultimately agreed that the District’s law violated his rights.
Then something even less expected happened: Pirro asked the court to press rewind. It backed the District’s request for the court to rehear the case en banc, meaning all seven of its judges would participate in the decision.
It is anyone’s guess whether Washington gunowners will manage to run the court’s gauntlet a second time. One of the three judges who heard the case the first time dissented from the decision. All four of the judges who would join the case, if reheard, were appointed by Democratic presidents. Letting the decision stand would vindicate the Second Amendment — rehearing would roll the dice with virtually no chance of achieving a better constitutional ruling.
The only reason for Pirro to want an en banc hearing from a pro-gun point of view is that she wants to push this to the Supreme Court, where the justices will likely strike it down across the country.
However, when you look at her brief asking for the en banc--after saying she wouldn't defend the law, mind you--it seems clear that she doesn't like the decision to not pursue the case, but her hands are tied. Still, if she can get an en banc review, even if she fails to defend it, and the Democrat-appointed judges rule as we suspect, she can get the restrictions upheld without having to dirty her hands any further.
At least, that's my take on it, and while I'm skeptical of her in a lot of ways, especially with her threats to arrest anyone who brought a gun into the District of Columbia following the shooting of Alex Pretti.
Coupled with this, it's clear she's just another gun-grabber in Republican clothing.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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