Judge upholds Washington D.C.'s assault weapons ban

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Judge upholds Washington D.C.'s assault weapons ban
(Image credit: Thinkstock)

A federal judge on Thursday upheld Washington, D.C.'s, ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, as well as its gun registry program. "The Constitution, in short, guarantees the right 'to keep and bear arms,'" U.S. District Judge James Boasberg wrote, "not the right 'to keep and bear an armory.'"

While noting that the Supreme Court struck down the District's old handgun ban a few years back, Boasberg concluded that "public safety is a substantial government interest" that served as a "powerful justification for the District's gun-registration regime."

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Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.