2A win: Appeals court in DC strikes down high-capacity magazine restrictions



Second Amendment advocates are celebrating after a D.C. appeals court struck down a local ban on high-capacity magazines.

On Thursday, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals handed down a 2-1 decision in Tyree Benson v. United States and the District of Columbia, ruling that a local law banning gun magazines that can contain more than 10 rounds is unconstitutional.

'We agree with Benson and the United States that the District’s outright ban on them violates the Second Amendment.'

Appellant Tyree Benson was arrested in October 2022 on multiple charges related to possession of a Glock 45 9mm caliber handgun with a high-capacity magazine that could hold 30 rounds of ammunition.

The opinion argued that the ubiquity of high-capacity magazines makes enforcing or justifying an outright ban extremely difficult.

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. 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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Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

The opinion of the court was written by Trump appointee Associate Judge Joshua Deahl, who was joined by Obama appointee Catharine Friend Easterly.

In her dissent, Chief Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby argued in part that the majority's argument failed to address the unusually high capacity in this case, whereas many gun owners have guns with 11-, 15-, or 17-round magazines. Additionally, she defended the law by applying the historical legal standard of banning "dangerous and unusual" weapons, though that standard is controversial.

The District of Columbia, which upholds the ban and is another party in the suit, could appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court or request that a larger panel from the local appeals court reconsider it, the New York Times reported.

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‘F you’: Departing DC police chief invokes Bible in performative, preacher-like rebuke to critics amid crime stat scandal



Departing Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith had a final message for her critics amid an ongoing investigation into allegations that the department manipulated its data to make crime appear lower in Washington, D.C.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released an interim report earlier this week on its investigation into the MPD. The report claimed that department leadership pressured and instructed commanders to downgrade crime classifications to lesser offenses, including those not included in the daily crime report available to the public. Smith was accused of propagating a "culture of fear, intimidation, threats, and retaliation."

'This person should’ve NEVER been in ANY position of power.'

The MPD hosted a Friday walkout ceremony for Smith after her resignation announcement last week. Her resignation is effective December 31.

During the ceremony, Smith denied the allegations against her, insisting that she "never will and never would have encouraged, intimidated, retaliated, or told anyone to change their numbers."

"I hope you can understand this from a spiritual context because the theme of what has resonated in this place is one thing, and that's God," Smith said.

She claimed that "some folks" mistook her "passion for being the angry black woman."

RELATED: DC police chief manipulated crime stats to make city look better, report claims

Pamela Smith. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

"My passion is because I love this work. I love God's people, but I dare not leave without saying something to my haters," she continued.

Smith was taking on a preacher-like persona by this point, and she raised her gravelly toned voice and offered dramatic pauses as she listed to the crowd all the church-related activities she took part in over the years before declaring "there's enough Jesus in me that's gonna get me to heaven if I die tomorrow!"

Then she dropped an F bomb — kinda.

"I'm going to the Bible when I say this to my haters: F you," Smith declared before issuing another dramatic pause to the crowd, which seemed a bit taken aback.

"I forgive you," she said soon after. "I forgive you because the Bible makes it very clear. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, when he said to us, 'Father' — even in the pit of agony and defeat, he said, 'Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.' God bless you, and God keep you."

RELATED: Whistleblower alleges widespread manipulation of DC crime stats, fueling Oversight Committee probe

Smith also called for an investigation into those who accused her of directing police staff to manipulate crime statistics.

Her departing speech was likened to a screaming meltdown.

“WTF?! DC’s DEI police chief Pamela Smith just had a SCREAMING MELTDOWN while giving her resignation speech, after she was caught fudging crime stats,” independent journalist Nick Sortor wrote in a post on social media. “This person should’ve NEVER been in ANY position of power. Especially in the nation’s capital.”

President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized D.C.'s Democratic leadership for the district's crime wave. He previously threatened a potential federal takeover if leadership failed to address the crisis successfully — and Trump did just that when he federalized D.C. police in August.

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President Donald Trump. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Former Police Commander Michael Pulliam was suspended in July after he was accused of participating in the alleged data manipulation.

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DC police chief manipulated crime stats to make city look better, report claims



Resigning Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith deliberately manipulated Washington, D.C., crime data to appear lower, according to a new report.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's majority staff released an interim report on Sunday as part of its ongoing investigation into allegations that MPD leadership pressured commanders to alter crime stats. The committee launched the probe into the department in August.

'Chief Smith should resign today.'

After interviewing seven acting MPD commanders and one suspended MPD commander, the committee found that the department's leadership placed "a higher priority on suppressing public reporting of crime statistics than stopping crime itself."

The commanders allegedly told lawmakers that "they were not only pressured, but also instructed, to lower crime classifications to lesser intermediate offenses in such a way that those offenses would not be included in the [daily crime report] reported to the public."

Smith allegedly created a "toxic management culture" that propagated a "culture of fear, intimidation, threats, and retaliation," the report read.

Lawmakers concluded that the MPD's crime data remains at risk of manipulation despite Smith's recent resignation announcement.

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James Comer. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

"Every single person who lives, works, or visits the District of Columbia deserves a safe city, yet it's now clear the American people were deliberately kept in the dark about the true crime rates in our nation's capital," stated committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.). "Testimony from experienced and courageous MPD commanders has exposed the truth: Chief Pamela Smith coerced staff to report artificially low crime data and cultivated a culture of fear to achieve her agenda. Chief Smith's decision to mislead the public by manipulating crime statistics is dangerous and undermines trust in both local leadership and law enforcement."

"Her planned resignation at the end of the month should not be seen as a voluntary choice, but as an inevitable consequence that should have occurred much earlier. Chief Smith should resign today," Comer added.

Former Police Commander Michael Pulliam was placed on administrative leave in May and later suspended after he was accused of manipulating crime data. Smith stated at the time that the department was committed to immediately addressing "any irregularity in crime data."

"Any allegation of this behavior will be dealt with through our internal processes, which will ensure those members are held accountable," she declared.

RELATED: DC police commander under investigation for allegedly manipulating crime stats

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

However, Smith announced her resignation last week, effective December 31. While she did not give a reason for her departure, some critics questioned the timing amid the ongoing allegations against her and the department.

These allegations against the department and its leadership emerged amid President Donald Trump's warning that his administration would take over D.C. if its leaders failed to address the area's crime crisis.

The MPD did not respond to a request for comment.

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RealPage, accused of rental price fixing, settles suit with feds



A real estate website once accused of facilitating a "housing cartel" has reached a settlement with the Department of Justice.

After a more than year-and-a-half battle, RealPage and the DOJ have come to an agreement that will limit certain features on the app that renters claimed were unfair.

'Replacing competition with coordination ... renters paid the price.'

In 2024, tenants from a popular building in Jersey City, New Jersey, took RealPage to court over allegations of landlords sharing nonpublic information on the website, including vacancy data.

The tenants said the information inflated rental prices, effectively resulting in price-fixing rent across cities due to landlords using the same algorithm to dictate their prices.

In November 2023, the attorney general of Washington, D.C., submitted a different complaint against 14 other landlords operating more than 50,000 rental units in territory.

"Effectively, RealPage is facilitating a housing cartel," said D.C.'s AG Brian Schwalb.

A DOJ suit in August 2024 seemingly tipped the scales, and now RealPage has agreed to settle on terms.

RELATED: 'Housing cartel' landlords accused of price-fixing rent rates using automated software to maximize rental profits

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According to the DOJ's Antitrust Division Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater, RealPage was "replacing competition with coordination, and renters paid the price."

The settlement stops RealPage from coordinating pricing, Slater said in a video posted to X, and forces the app to cease using competitor data to set rents in real time. As well, RealPage can no longer generate "hyper-localized pricing that pushes rent up" and must eliminate features that discourage landlords from lowering prices.

"It means rents set by the market, not a secret algorithm," Slater remarked.

In a press release, RealPage boasted that the settlement led to no findings or admissions of liability, including no financial penalties or damages being awarded.

However, the company did reveal that it agreed to be independently monitored to confirm ongoing compliance with the new terms. Reuters reported that the monitorship will last three years and limit how RealPage collects and uses nonpublic data.

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Stephen Weissman, Gibson Dunn partner and former deputy director for the Federal Trade Commission, reiterated the company's denial of any wrongdoing and blamed the spread of misinformation for alleged misconceptions on how the app operates.

"There has been a great deal of misinformation about how RealPage's software works and the value it provides for both housing providers and renters."

Weissman claimed that the company's use of "aggregated and anonymized nonpublic data" has led to lower rents and more "pro-competitive" effects.

Aiden Buzzetti, president of the Bull Moose Project, told Return that he feels the settlement ensures that "Americans who rent are not subject to illegal price-fixing practices."

Buzzetti added, “We support the Trump administration's transformative direction to hold corporations like RealPage accountable when they violate the law."

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