US judge throws out case on machine gun possession, calling the ban unconstitutional

WICHITA, KS - On Wednesday, August 21st, a federal judge dismissed charges that were brought against a Kansas man for possessing a machine gun, detailing in his decision that prosecutors failed to establish that a federal ban on owning such a weapon is constitutional.

According to a report from Reuters, this decision by U.S. District Judge John Broomes appears to be the first time in which a court has held that banning machine guns is unconstitutional after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in 2022 expanding gun rights.

In that case, New York State Rifle Association v. Bruen, the Supreme Court established a new test for assessing firearms laws, saying that its restrictions must be "consistent with this nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation."

In June, the Supreme Court clarified that standard when it upheld a ban on people subject to domestic violence restraining orders having guns, saying that a modern firearms restriction needs only a "historical analogue," not a "historical twin" to be valid. Judge Broomes said that the prosecutors in Tamori Morgan's case failed to identify such a historical analogue to support charging the man with violating the machine gun ban.

Morgan was indicted in 2023 on charges that he illegally possessed a machine gun and a machine gun conversion device known as a "Glock switch." Prosecutors said that the weapons at issue in Morgan's case did not fall within the protections of the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment, which guarantees the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense. 

Broomes, however, disagreed, saying that the "machine gun and Glock switch are bearable arms within the plain text of the Second Amendment." The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) can appeal Broomes decision. According to the Associated Press (AP), if the decision by Broomes is upheld on appeal, it could have a sweeping impact on the regulation of machine guns. 

Broomes dismissed two machine gun possession counts against Morgan. Broomes wrote in part, "The court finds that the Second Amendment applies to the weapons charged because they are 'bearable arms' within the original meaning of the amendment." In the case, federal prosecutors said in earlier court filings that the "Supreme Court has made clear that regulations of machine guns fall outside of the Second Amendment."

Jacob Charles, an associate law professor at Pepperdine University who tracks Second Amendment cases, said that the Kansas ruling is a "direct fallout from the Bruen decision." He said, "It gives lower court judges the ability to pick and choose the historical record in a way that they think the Second Amendment should be read."

He said that he expects Broomes' ruling to be overturned, citing Supreme Court precedent allowing for regulation of machine guns. Eric Ruben, a fellow at the Brennan Center and an associate law professor of Southern Methodist University agreed saying, "As far as I know, this is the first time in American history that a machine gun ban has been found unconstitutional in its application."

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reported a 570% increase in the number of conversion devices collected by police departments between 2017 and 2021, which as of March, is the most recent data available.