9th Circuit judge criticized for posting video to YouTube featuring assault rifle, weapons demo
Judge posts controversial video to YouTube
A 9th Circuit Court posted a controversial video explaining how firearms work in a dissenting opinion
SAN FRANCISCO - A Trump-appointed San Francisco judge is facing criticism for a video he posted to YouTube following a ruling on California's ban on high-capacity magazines for guns.
The backstory:
Judge Lawrence VanDyke, appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, said the attorney for the state of California and his colleagues on the bench didn't understand how firearms work, so he added a demonstration to his dissenting opinion, and uploaded it to YouTube. His colleagues voted last week to uphold California's ban on magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition.
"It became clear to me that many, including council and the majority of my colleagues, lack the basic familiarity with firearms to understand the inherent shortcomings and obvious inadminsterability of the test that California was proposing," said VanDyke in the video.
Judge VanDyke sits on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, and posted the video attached to his dissenting opinion on California's law banning large capacity magazines for firearms, at one point sitting under what appears to be an assault rifle.
The 9th Circuit decided in favor of California's attorney general, and Judge VanDyke said the attorney from the attorney general's office and his colleagues on the bench didn't understand some of the fundamentals of how firearms works, so he posted a video he said would help explain.
"The entire gun is designed around the automatic cycling mechanism," explained VanDyke in the video. "That is, when you pull the trigger and fire a round, right when that happens it will automatically rack the slide back, eject the round, the spent cartridge out of the gun. It will grab a new round out of the magazine and put that round into the chamber."
What they're saying:
University of California School of Law San Francisco Professor David Levine said a judge adding a video to an opinion is rare, but one where the judge themselves demonstrates something in that video is unheard of.
"I've never seen something like that," said Levine. "I've never seen, or I can't think of one where a judge themselves created an exhibit."
Judge VanDyke's colleagues on the bench also criticized the move.
"I know that Judge Berzon wrote an opinion where she basically said what Judge VanDyke was trying to do was to be an expert witness in this case," said Levine.
Despite the fact the court generally relies on precedent, Professor Levine said it's unlikely more judges will follow in Judge VanDyke's footsteps. "I wouldn't expect that this is going to be the new way to issue opinions or something like that," said Levine.
What's next:
For now, the law banning large-capacity magazines stands in California, but it could be appealed to the US Supreme Court, where the justices may very well review that video posted by Judge VanDyke.
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