The video has sparked some pushback from fellow judges on the federal appeals court
A federal appellate judge took the maxim “show, don’t tell” to a new level Thursday in a novel dissent to a closely watched Second Amendment case.“This is the first video like this that I’ve ever made,” said Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke in a YouTube video he recorded, in his chambers, as the bespectacled jurist in his black robes handled a handgun and explained its mechanics and operation to the camera.
The unconventional video accompanied a Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling upholding California’s ban on large-capacity magazines.
The appeals court’s majority held that firearm magazines that enable someone to fire more than 10 bullets without reloading are an optional accessory, not an inherent part of the weapon, and thus not protected by the Second Amendment.
VanDyke, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Trump, linked to his video posted on YouTube in his dissent. The judge starts out sitting behind his desk in front of what appears to be an AK-style rifle mounted on the wall behind him.
“I have rendered inoperable all the guns and gun parts that I used to demonstrate today,” the judge said. The video then cuts to him in front of a table, picking up a SIG Sauer P320 semiautomatic pistol to start his demonstration.
VanDyke said he thought his video would be a helpful visual aid. He sought to demonstrate that magazines are like other key gun components, like grips and sights, that can be swapped out and make the weapon function.
The Ninth Circuit has embraced technology more than most federal courts, and livestreams its oral arguments. But some on the bench were outraged by VanDyke’s departure from longstanding judicial norm of grounding arguments in written words, not social media.
The “wildly improper video presentation warrants additional comment, lest the genre proliferate,” wrote Judge Marsha Berzon, a President Bill Clinton-appointed judge, in a concurring opinion.
Continues...
