Full Auto

A Federal Judge Recently Dismissed Charges of Possessing Fully Automatic Weapons as Unconstitutional – Does It Mean Machine Guns Are Now Legal?

by Richard Baimbridge

In August of this year, U.S. District Judge John Broomes dismissed charges against Tamori Morgan, a Kansas man charged with possessing a machine gun and a Glock switch, arguing that the weapons qualify as “bearable arms” under the Second Amendment. 

Morgan was accused of possessing a model AM-15 .300-caliber machine gun and a machine gun conversion device known as a “Glock switch” that can make a semi-automatic weapon fire like a machine gun. But Broomes, an appointee of President Donald Trump, dismissed both charges against Morgan.

“The court finds that the Second Amendment applies to the weapons charged because they are ‘bearable arms’ within the original meaning of the amendment,” Broomes wrote. He added that the government “has the burden to show that the regulation is consistent with this nation’s historical firearm regulation tradition.”

Prosecutors filed an appeal with the 10th Circuit in September. If the decision is upheld, the case could have major implications on gun ownership in America. But most experts in the firearms industry say Broomes’ decision will likely be overturned.

Two relatively recent gun rights decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court — known as Bruen and Rahimi — have influenced the Kansas case. Broomes ruled that "In this case, the government has not met its burden under Bruen and Rahimi to demonstrate through historical analogs that regulation of the weapons at issue in this case are consistent with the nation's history of firearms regulation."

To be clear, civilian-ownership of machine guns is not illegal in America – and never has been.

Congress first moved to limit and regulate machine guns through the National Firearms Act (NFA) in 1934, during the Prohibition Era, by imposing a $200 tax ($4700 in today’s money) on every machine gun sold, making it all but impossible for most people to afford one. Even so, they were never technically considered to be “illegal.” Then in 1986, under President Ronald Reagan, Congress went a step further and barred ownership of machine guns that were not lawfully possessed prior to that year.

Today, it’s still possible for civilians to own a machine gun, as long as it was manufactured before the November 1986 deadline, and was legally transferred, along with the NFA tax payment. But with a very limited supply and huge demand, prices are now typically in the tens of thousands of dollars for firearms that initially cost just a few hundred dollars.

Glock switches, by contrast, are completely illegal in the US for anyone other than those who possess a Federal Firearms License (FFL). Although they can be easily made using a 3D printer, the penalties for illegal possession of a Glock switch can include fines of up to $250,000 and 10 years in prison.

Although President Trump signed a law banning bump stocks in 2017 after the Las Vegas mass shooting that left 60 people dead, the Supreme Court overturned that ban earlier this year, saying that bump stocks don’t qualify as machine guns.

It’s clear that based on the language of the Second Amendment alone, machine guns are absolutely protected under the US Constitution. In fact, if anything, they would probably be considered mandatory for civilians to possess under the provisions of maintaining a “well-regulated militia” – by which is meant a civilian population armed with modern, up-to-date weapons capable of protecting the nation, and/or defending a state’s rights against federal tyranny.

Still, it’s unlikely that Broomes’ decision will stand. There is simply not enough support for such a decision in the US Supreme Court. Furthermore, it would be unwise to expect having similar charges against you be dismissed simply because of the Kansas ruling. So, don’t be fooled into thinking that just because Tamori Morgan got away with it, you can, too.

But either way, it will be interesting to see what happens when the case goes to court next year on appeal.

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