Washington cements ‘high-capacity' magazine ban in landmark ruling
The Washington Supreme Court has upheld the state's ban on high-capacity firearm magazines, reversing a lower court's previous decision.
The law was first passed in 2022, making it illegal to buy or sell magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. However, people who already own 'high-capacity magazines' can keep them, according to The Seattle Times.
In a 7-2 majority opinion, Justice Charles Johnson stated that large-capacity magazines (LCMs) are not considered 'arms' under constitutional definitions and are not necessary for self-defense. Six national gun rights groups had filed separate briefs during the lawsuit, hoping the Supreme Court would kill the ban.
Currently, 13 other states have similar bans on high-capacity magazines. The fight over the ban began in 2023 when the Cowlitz County Superior Court ruled that it violated both state and federal constitutional rights. Gator's Custom Guns, a Kelso-based gun retailer, argued that the state's ruling was not consistent with longstanding firearm traditions.
Former Attorney General and current Governor Bob Ferguson has previously voiced support for the ban. He claims that siding with the lower court's interpretation could threaten the state's broader authority to regulate guns, such as AR-15s and fully automatic weapons. He claimed that imposing 'sensible limits on military-style guns' is non-exclusive with the constitutional right to self-defense.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNBC
34 minutes ago
- CNBC
Conservative network Newsmax agrees to pay $67 million in defamation case over bogus 2020 election claims
The conservative network Newsmax will pay $67 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of defaming a voting equipment company by spreading lies about President Donald Trump's 2020 election loss, according to documents filed Monday. The settlement comes after Fox News Channel paid $787.5 million to settle a similar lawsuit in 2023 and Newsmax paid what court papers describe as $40 million to settle a libel lawsuit from a different voting machine manufacturer, Smartmatic, which also was a target of pro-Trump conspiracy theories on the network. Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis had ruled earlier that Newsmax did indeed defame Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems by airing false information about the company and its equipment. But Davis left it to a jury to eventually decide whether that was done with malice, and, if so, how much Dominion deserved from Newsmax in damages. Newsmax and Dominion reached a settlement before the trial could take place. The settlement was disclosed by Newsmax on Monday in a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It said the deal was reached Friday. A spokesperson for Dominion said the company was pleased to have settled the lawsuit. The disclosure came as Trump, who lost his 2020 reelection bid to Democrat Joe Biden, vowed in a social media post Monday to eliminate mail-in ballots and voting machines such as those supplied by Dominion and other companies. It was unclear how the Republican president could achieve that. The same judge also handled the Dominion-Fox News case and made a similar ruling that the network repeated numerous lies by Trump's allies about his 2020 loss despite internal communications showing Fox officials knew the claims were bogus. At the time, Davis found it was "CRYSTAL clear" that none of the allegations was true. Internal correspondence from Newsmax officials likewise shows they knew the claims were baseless. "How long are we going to play along with election fraud?" Newsmax host Bob Sellers said two days after the 2020 election was called for Biden, according to internal documents revealed as part of the case. Newsmax took pride that it was not calling the election for Biden and, the internal documents show, saw a business opportunity in catering to viewers who believed Trump won. Private communications that surfaced as part of Dominion's earlier defamation case against Fox News also revealed how the network's business interests intersected with decisions it made related to coverage of Trump's 2020 election claims. At Newsmax, employees repeatedly warned against false allegations from pro-Trump guests such as attorney Sidney Powell, according to documents in the lawsuit. In one text, even Newsmax owner Chris Ruddy, a Trump ally, said he found it "scary" that Trump was meeting with Powell. Dominion was at the heart of many of the wild claims aired by guests on Newsmax and elsewhere, who promoted a conspiracy theory involving deceased Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez to rig the machines for Biden. The network retracted some of the more bombastic allegations in December 2020. Though Trump has insisted his fraud claims are real, there's no evidence they were, and the lawsuits in the Fox and Newsmax cases show how some of the president's biggest supporters knew they were false at the time. Trump's then-attorney general, William Barr, said there was no evidence of widespread fraud. Trump and his backers lost dozens of lawsuits alleging fraud, some before Trump-appointed judges. Numerous recounts, reviews and audits of the election results, including some run by Republicans, turned up no signs of significant wrongdoing or error and affirmed Biden's win. After returning to office, Trump pardoned those who tried to halt the transfer of power during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and directed his Department of Justice to investigate Chris Krebs, a former Trump cybersecurity appointee who had vouched for the security and accuracy of the 2020 election. As an initial trial date approached in the Dominion case earlier this year, Trump issued an executive order attacking the law firm that litigated it and the Fox case, Susman Godfrey. The order, part of a series targeting law firms Trump has tussled with, cited Susman Godfrey's work on elections and said the government would not do business with any of its clients or permit any of its staff in federal buildings. A federal judge put that action on hold, saying the framers would view it as "a shocking abuse of power. "
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Texas bills increasing youth camp safety face long odds, even after Hill Country floods
Although not specifically named in Gov. Greg Abbott's list of directives for the current special legislative session, state lawmakers have filed several bills to shore up the safety of youth camps in the wake of the devastating Hill Country floods. So far, nine bills have been proposed that would address everything from emergency plans and camper disaster drills, to better communication systems and life jackets inside every cabin. They are all in response to the July 4 floods that killed 137 people, including 27 campers and counselors at storied Camp Mystic. The camp's longtime owner Dick Eastland was also among the victims. 'My hope is that these common sense reforms would help prevent confusion during floods and ensure every camper has the tools and information needed to act quickly when every second matters,' said state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, who has filed three of eight camp safety bills. Realistically, it's tough to see how any camp safety proposal will pass by Aug. 19, when the special session ends, when so much is vying for the Texas Legislature's attention. Many flood-related proposals that will likely take priority over camps are aimed at fast-tracking disaster funding to businesses and improving emergency disaster response. And there's no guarantee that all camps will be on board with the proposed safety regulations. While some camp industry representatives have told The Texas Tribune they welcome regulation as they grieve alongside their impacted peers, these businesses, particularly more profitable camps, have influenced legislation or circumvented certain mandates in the past. Two weeks after the flooding, the Associated Press reported that Camp Mystic had in recent years successfully appealed to FEMA to have several of its buildings removed from federal flood zone maps, which could have lowered Mystic's insurance cost and made expansion of the camp easier to do. 'The youth camps don't like regulation,' state Rep. Vikki Goodwin told The Texas Tribune when asked about concessions she had to make to certain camps on a 2023 safety bill. Whether the camp safety bills make it, are re-filed in another special session or resurface in the 2027 regular legislative session, one thing is certain: The small but politically astute camp industry is expected to face a lot more questions from lawmakers and specifically, Texas parents, about how it keeps campers safe, particularly the large contingent of sleepaway camps along the state's lakes and rivers. 'Whatever is coming out, especially from the Legislature or state law, we're going to gladly take it and run with it,' said Dan Neal, the chair of the state's camp advisory committee and whose family owns Georgetown-based Camp Doublecreek. 'And the camps that I know that I work closely with are going to be happy to take what that is, and really, I would say, make it even better than what is just gonna be probably the base regulation.' Camp safety bills The Hill Country flooding largely exposed the lack of preparation by youth camps when confronted with disastrous weather events. Although they may not have mitigated the devastation that caught residents and community leaders off guard in the early hours of July 4, recently filed legislation aim to prevent another catastrophic death toll at children's camps. Among them include: Senate Bill 35 and House Bill 223 requiring camps along a river to have flood safety equipment in each cabin, including life jackets and a cabin-to-cabin communication system. SB 49 requiring safety drills for campers. HB 124 requiring the state to establish better rules about building a camp within a floodplain. HB 211 and HB 239 requiring all camp emergency management plans to be filed with the Texas Division of Emergency Management. The last bill addresses the call from some parents to have camp's emergency plans more available for public scrutiny. Currently, camps are governed under the state's health and safety code which contains very general rules about how camps will be inspected by the Texas Department of State Health Services. For example, camps must have an emergency plan, including ways to evacuate in case of a disaster, but those plans are merely verified — not evaluated — by state licensing workers and copies of them are not maintained by the state. During a joint legislative hearing Thursday on the disaster, Kerr County Emergency Management Director William 'Dub' Thomas revealed the county had never had a county-wide evacuation drill and wasn't able to access six of the 19 youth camps in the area. One Houston mom who traveled to Kerrville to attend the hearing pleaded with lawmakers to make youth camps post their emergency plans on their websites. 'After hearing about the camp emergency plans or lack thereof, please address that,' said Keli Rabon, whose sons Braeden and Brock survived their flooded cabins at La Junta camp on July 4. 'That should be mandatory and published on every camp website for the public to view, not in an office somewhere.' To be licensed by the state health agency, all youth camp emergency plans are required to be posted in every occupied camp building. But the state does not require them to be posted on a youth camp's website or on the agency's website. Parents can ask a camp to see their emergency plans. HB 211 is more prescriptive than current law on what must be included in emergency plans. It would require TDEM to obtain the plans, which would presumably allow the public to request them. The state's disaster response agency would also be required to set emergency procedures for camps and provide feedback to camps about their plans. 'We remain committed to working with lawmakers and the state to ensure any legislation is approached thoughtfully, with room for collaboration and reflection following the tragic July 4th floods,' said Tommy Ferguson, a retired camp director and spokesperson for Camp Association for Mutual Progress, the trade association for the state's major overnight camps, including Camp Mystic. 'Camper safety is always C.A.M.P's top priority.' The camp industry's influence The youth camp industry is hardly different from other industries in Texas, a pro-business state famously allergic to strict regulation. Youth camps, like most private enterprises and even counties and cities, hire lobbyists to protect their interests via a trade association during legislative sessions. The top request of that organization, C.A.M.P., is to end the ever-changing start of Texas public schools, which forces camps to readjust their summer schedule and impacts their bottom line. While the state has not sided with it on that issue, C.A.M.P. can and has pushed back successfully behind the scenes on blanket regulations. Camps also have a little-known state committee that advises DSHS, the very same state agency that licenses them, on requirements and policies. The Youth Camp Advisory Committee and similar advisory groups point to their necessity in a state without a full-time Legislature. Instead of waiting on state lawmakers to meet as scheduled every two years to pass laws, youth camps, which make up six of the nine members on the advisory group, meet semiannually to request rule changes to the state agency and the Legislature when it convenes. 'I mean, it is purely advisory,' said Neal, who chairs the committee. 'We have really no say in creating a rule. In other words, we're not legislators.' But they can influence how much a rule impacts them. The youth camp committee's March meeting provides a glimpse into the give-and-take nature of its operation. For example, while the state rejected the advisory group's request to exclude staff from wearing protective helmets during horseback riding, the state sided with camps on tweaking a rule to allow them to have a physician assistant or nurse practitioner on call instead of a doctor, which are harder to come by in rural areas. The camp advisory group also tries to protect camps from blanket regulations. 'I'm all about improving camps but sometimes I'm a little hesitant to make another requirement on a camp that is maybe not needed,' said Camp Mystic Cypress Lake director Britt Eastland during the March meeting as members discussed training policies on handling camper behavior. Neal says one of the primary concerns of both C.A.M.P. and the state committee is to protect families from unregulated camps. 'We also want to not have people out there that use the name camp and are not committed to the same regulations as we are,' Neal told The Texas Tribune this week. 'Safety has always been at the forefront of every single [camp] director and owner and you know, it's something that keeps us up at night.' While the state and the committee have beefed up background checks and staff training to screen out sex offenders, a check of the committee's meeting minutes posted online since 2007 reveal that there's been no discussion of disaster planning, camp emergency evacuation or procedures in case of any natural disaster or threat. Neal, who has served on the committee for three years, said camps know their emergency preparation will be highly scrutinized by the state and by the public moving forward. 'Whatever is in the past is in the past,' he said about the committee's history with disaster planning. 'We're ready to get down to work, whatever that looks like, to make sure we can keep this a top priority, camper safety.' One grieving family's legislative experience Seven years ago, Jonestown resident Kori DelaPeña dropped off her daughter Cati to the High Hopes Summer Camp with strict instructions to staff that the 6-year-old could not swim and if she were taken near water, she must wear a life jacket. DelaPeña even spelled out the instructions in writing to the day camp's staff who assured her that precautions would be taken. Cati drowned in a local pool during the camp's second day. The little girl was found without a life jacket. An investigation would later reveal that life jackets were available and the number of campers exceeded the pool's own capacity rules. The DelaPeñas contacted their state Rep. Vikki Goodwin to discuss creating a law that would force all Texas' youth camps to comply with stricter water safety rules. Until then, Goodwin recalls, she had no idea that there were different rules for different youth camps. 'I didn't understand that there's different regulations for the camps like Camp Mystic versus just a day camp, child care center type of thing,' Goodwin said. Goodwin's bill ended up exempting the 375 camps licensed by DSHS to avoid pushback from C.A.M.P. Texas private schools, some of which have water features like ponds or pools and operate camps on their campuses, had concerns about the overly broad language in the original bill text. Language was tweaked but private schools as well as public schools are required to adhere to the new law. Tommy Ferguson, a retired camp director, speaking for C.A.M.P. said that exemption of DSHS-licensed youth camps had nothing to do with undue influence. He said their inclusion wasn't necessary because existing state law requires camps to test campers' swimming ability and to keep children 'confined to the limits of swimming skills for which they have been classified.' 'Youth camps … already had state-mandated waterfront safety standards,' he said in a statement. Initially, DelaPeña was disappointed. 'My job will always be [about] what we lived, these other families don't live it,' she said. But she came to understand that 'in legislation, you have to pick your battles." Today, the DelaPeñas are satisfied with the resulting law they campaigned so hard for. Day camps operated by child care centers and other organizations using pools for water activities must now get a parent's signature on a form attesting to their child's swimming ability if that child is younger than 12. If that child cannot swim, they must wear a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket before entering a pool. Additionally, the couple's non-profit, Live Like Cati, offers water safety training and raises money to provide life jackets to organizations. The DelaPeñas understand better than anyone else the grief, the demands for accountability and the questions that will go unanswered that face the families who lost children during the July 4 disaster. They encourage them to stay strong and for decisionmakers to enact changes for summer camps, particularly those near open water. 'Be persistent, don't give up,' DelaPeña said. 'Try and do not let your anger or grief take over your mission. Do it for the love of your child and God will guide you and open the doors you need to walk through.' The lineup for The Texas Tribune Festival continues to grow! Be there when all-star leaders, innovators and newsmakers take the stage in downtown Austin, Nov. 13–15. The newest additions include comedian, actor and writer John Mulaney; Dallas mayor Eric Johnson; U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota; New York Media Editor-at-Large Kara Swisher; and U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso. Get your tickets today! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase. : The story has been updated to say that to be licensed by the Texas Department of State Health Services, camps must post their emergency plans on occupied buildings, but they are not required to post them online. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump will ignore crime reduction data for the political value of a show of force
'They fought back against law enforcement last night, and they're not going to be fighting back long,' Donald Trump said of young people on a 'rampage through city streets' at his press conference this morning. 'See, they fight back until you knock the hell out of them, because it's the only language they understand.' Lay this comment against a series of executive orders about law enforcement and civil rights that the president has issued over the last seven months, and one consequence of the federalization of police in Washington DC becomes evident: Trump will ignore measured effectiveness in reducing crime for the political value of a show of force. 'There is no public safety emergency warranting the deployment of the national guard on DC streets or the federalization of the city's police force,' said Ryan Downer, legal director of the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, a Washington DC-based civil rights group that has litigated police brutality cases. Noting a sharp decrease in violent crime – reaching a 30-year low this year – Downer said that federalizing control of the district 'is an invitation for abuse. When you try to solve a problem of criminal behavior with overpolicing and harsher penalties … you see increases in police violence and police harassment. It's a call at the highest levels for police lawlessness.' Related: Trump spreads false narratives about DC crime – just as he did with LA Downer said his group would be vigilantly looking for stories to share about police abuses over the term of federal control of the district's police. But accountability under these conditions is complicated. Police officers almost anywhere else in the US are constrained both by state and federal law. If a local cop in New York or Los Angeles brutalizes someone in the course of an arrest, they can be arrested by either state or local police, and accountable to a state court and a prosecutor elected by local voters. Uniquely in the US, a serious felony in Washington DC is prosecuted not by the elected attorney general for the district, but by a federal prosecutor appointed by the president – Jeanne Pirro, TV judge turned US attorney for the District of Columbia. And a crime prosecuted in that federal court can be pardoned by the president, as we saw with the convictions of rioters from the January 6 insurrection. 'This is ultimately a problem of DC not having statehood,' said Monica Hopkins, executive director of the ACLU of Washington DC. The city council passes laws covering the district and the mayor controls the police force, but the president can declare an emergency that gives him control for 30 days, she said. 'He is acting under a pretextual emergency and extending the sort of blatant abuse of power over DC in a way that he could not do in any other jurisdiction as of right now.' Local organizations said they view Trump's declaration as yet another reason to call for statehood. 'Statehood is the only path to real accountability and local control. Without it, the current administration will continue to treat us as powerless and deploy power over us,' said Clinique Chapman, CEO of the DC Justice Lab. 'This latest overreach mirrors nationwide efforts to disempower Black-led cities, elected officials and prosecutors, while leaving federal agencies, unaccountable to our residents, in control of our justice system.' Violent crime is higher in Washington DC than the national average. But it is not among the most violent large cities in the United States today, and the number of incidents have been falling in Washington DC for about two years. Trump cited figures during the press conference from 2023, while ignoring precipitous drops in most categories of violent crime since. Violent crime overall was at a 30-year low on the day Trump took office this January. Decrying local leaders who 'demonize' and 'handcuff' aggressive police, Trump issued an executive order in April, Strengthening And Unleashing America's Law Enforcement To Pursue Criminals And Protect Innocent Citizens, calling for the federal government to withdraw its support for consent decrees and other federal oversight on civil rights and police brutality and for city to 'unleash high-impact local police forces'. Then he went on to test out the experiment in California. Over the objections of California governor Gavin Newsom, Trump called in nearly 5,000 national guard troops and to guard federal property in Los Angeles, a move facing a three-day hearing today for Newsom's federal court challenge. But Trump has also called in the national guard in Washington DC in the past. Troops were present during protests against police brutality in the summer of 2020. US park police dispersed hundreds of demonstrators in Lafayette Park in front of the White House during the protests using chemical irritants, rubber bullets, smoke bombs, flash grenades and a baton charge. Related: 'Red meat to throw to his base': DC residents on Trump's police takeover The federal government settled an ACLU lawsuit over the dispersal of peaceful protesters at Lafayette Park in 2022, agreeing to policy changes that restrict park police from arbitrarily withdrawing demonstration permits, allowing protesters to leave safely and to identify themselves clearly, and modifying Secret Service policy to make clear that uses of force and dispersals are not normally justified by the unlawful conduct of some individuals in a crowd. At the press conference on Monday, Trump seemed to ignore that completely and talked about the conduct of protesters writ large as justification for police violence. 'They're standing and they're screaming at them an inch away from their face, and then they start spitting in their face,' Trump said. 'And I said: 'You tell them you spit and we hit,' and they can hit real hard … People are spitting in their face, and they're not allowed to do anything, but now they are allowed to do whatever the hell they want.' The downward trend in violence in Washington is consistent with what's being reported in other large cities across the country, according to statistical tracking by the Council on Criminal Justice. But that may not matter if the president is ignoring data in favor of ideology and bluster. 'He made some pretty bold statements that I think should concern everyone in the country at that press conference,' Hopkins said. 'DC is being done now, but he is looking at other cities, right? He just can move more swiftly with DC.'
