A federal judge recently affirmed the Second Amendment right of a 22-year-old from Kansas to own machine guns.
U.S. District Judge John Broomes made this ruling, adding to the ongoing debate over gun rights following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen. In that case, Justice Clarence Thomas stated that laws restricting gun rights are only constitutional if they are based on historical regulations from the period between 1791, when the Bill of Rights was signed, and the end of the Civil War.
The Kansas case involved Tamori Morgan, who was charged with possessing a .30-caliber, fully automatic rifle and a Glock pistol with a device that allowed it to fire automatically. Federal law bans machine guns made after 1986 and requires strict regulation of those made before then. It also treats owning a machine gun conversion device the same as owning a machine gun, with violations punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Judge Broomes, appointed by former President Donald Trump, found that the government couldn’t provide a historical basis to justify the 1986 law banning machine guns. While prosecutors referenced a 2008 Supreme Court decision that upheld longstanding restrictions on dangerous weapons like machine guns, Broomes argued that the case focused mainly on handguns.
As a result, the charges against Morgan were dismissed. Though this ruling applies only to Morgan, it could lead to more challenges against machine gun restrictions. It’s unclear whether the government will appeal the decision.
This case is significant because it could influence other legal battles over gun control laws, especially those involving machine gun conversion devices. Defense attorneys have been citing the *Bruen* decision in attempts to get charges dismissed, with this case marking a notable success. Similar challenges have already questioned the constitutionality of other gun control measures, such as the federal law preventing felons from owning guns.
One major related case, United States v. Rahimi went to the Supreme Court after a lower court struck down a law barring domestic abusers from having guns. The Supreme Court upheld the law in a 7-1 vote, signaling that the expansive interpretation of gun rights may not have broad support, even among conservative justices.
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