A Trump judge just ruled that the Second Amendment gives citizens the right to own machine guns

A Trump judge in Kansas ruled on Wednesday that the Second Amendment invalidated criminal charges against a defendant accused of illegally possessing a machine gun. United States v. Morgan.

Judge John Broomes’s ruling Morgan It is patently wrong, even in the Supreme Court’s most aggressively pro-gun opinion, and Brooms relies heavily on this one.

Supreme Court rulings in 2022 New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruhn (2022) Almost all U.S. gun laws face uncertaintyrequiring government lawyers to prove that any gun law challenged in court is consistent with “the historical tradition of gun control in this country.” Judges across the country have struggled to interpret and apply this vague standard, with many of them Complain publicly The bridge Not feasible in the opinions they expressed.

Reading in isolation, Brune’s The vague “historical tradition” test could be interpreted as supporting Brooms’ decision. The bridge The previous legal rules were retained, first in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), allowing governments to ban “dangerous and unusual weapons”. Heller It also included a sentence saying it would be “shocking” to conclude that an early Second Amendment ruling by the court invalidated the federal ban on machine guns.

Travel HellerConcluding that governments may regulate dangerous and unusual weapons such as fully automatic firearms, Blooms argues primarily that there were no laws similar to modern machine gun bans either in 18th-century England or in the United States before and after the founding of the country.

Of course, the reason why machine guns were not actually banned in the 18th century is quite obvious: It was not invented until 1884.

Brooms also argued that centuries of law in Britain and the United States only prohibited people from carrying guns “in order to intimidate the king’s subjects” or “in such a way as would naturally cause fear in the people.” Therefore, Judge Trump believed that unless The defendant also “To hold that same weapon on a public street and display it in an offensive manner.”

Seriously considered, this reasoning would also prohibit governments from owning tanks, fighter jets, and even nuclear warheads, as long as the civilians who acquire a nuclear warhead do not flaunt it in public.

In any case, Brooms’ ruling will be appealed to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a left-leaning court where Democratic appointees outnumber Republican appointees 7 to 5. As a result, the appeals court will almost certainly overturn Brooms’ ruling and reinstate the ban on dangerous and unusual weapons.

The “historical tradition” test The bridge Without any substance, lower court judges have been unable to apply it consistently, leading to absurd and unethical results. For example, just last June, the Supreme Court had to apply the The bridge ruling People subject to a domestic violence restraining order There is a constitutional right to own guns.

However, despite the court’s decision in that case, United States v. Rahimioverturning one of the most stunning rulings in federal judicial historyThe bridge Decided, it stayed bridge’Confusing history test. Rahimi“The court must determine whether the new law is ‘relevantly similar’ to what our tradition allows”—whatever that means.

In another concurring opinion RahimiJudge Ketanji Brown Jackson cited more than a dozen lower court opinions, complaining that the justices could not figure out how to The bridge As one of the opinions stated, “the Court operates in good faith. Work hard at every stage The bridge ask“These struggles involve many difficult and often decisive issues.”

This confusion may continue until The bridge was overturned. The historical and traditional tests announced in that case provided no meaningful guidance to lower court judges regarding which gun laws were constitutional. The bridge Allowing pro-gun judges to overturn nearly all gun laws regardless of the consequences—which may explain Brooms’ Morgan case.