White nationalist Max Misch lost his constitutional challenge to a 2018 state law banning high-capacity gun magazines, under which he's the first known Vermonter to be prosecuted. 

A Bennington judge on Friday tossed out Misch's challenge, writing that the law "advances the people's public-safety interest in a modest and reasonable way while respecting the right to bear arms."

The ruling allows the criminal case against Misch, filed by Attorney General T.J. Donovan earlier this year, to proceed.

Judge William Cohen is the first member of the judiciary to rule on the law, but he will not be the last. Prior to Misch's prosecution, a coalition of sportsmen's and Second Amendment groups sued the state in Washington Superior Court on similar grounds. That suit is pending.

Gun groups haven't rushed to defend Misch, who is being represented by a public defender. His constitutional challenge was penned by an unpaid intern.

Misch is accused of going to New Hampshire to buy a pair of 30-round rifle magazines and bringing them to his Bennington home. The new law banned purchase or acquisition of magazines with capacities of more than 10 rounds for rifles and 15 rounds for handguns, though people can legally possess magazines they owned before the law went into effect.

State police began investigating the case just days after Donovan announced that he hadn't found grounds to criminally charge Misch for his racist missives to former state representative Kiah Morris.

Misch told Seven Days on Monday that he plans to appeal Cohen's "terrible decision."