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Courts Rethinking Machine Gun Ban in the Post-Bruen World





In 2008, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, now deceased, called the prospect that a court would rule that fully automatic firearms were protected by the Second Amendment “startling.”

Two U.S. District Court judges have issued such rulings based on the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen.

Bruen states that a gun law is constitutional if it fits the plain text of the Second Amendment and has a historical analogue from the time of the Second Amendment’s ratification.


Judges in Kansas and Mississippi found that the 1986 ban on civilian ownership of fully automatic firearms fails the Bruen test and is, therefore, unconstitutional.

In 2022, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives agents found machine gun conversion devices (MCD) and a machine gun during a search of Justin Bryce Brown’s home in Mendenhall, Mississippi.

He was charged with possessing a machine gun and MCDs. Brown had no criminal history and was not accused of committing any crime with the items. The court found no similar ban in effect when the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791

Judge John Broomes rendered a similar ruling on Aug. 21, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas in United States v. Tamori Morgan. Morgan was also charged with possession of a machine gun and MCDs.

Broomes wrote: “Under Bruen’s framework for evaluating Second Amendment challenges, it is the government’s burden to identify a historical analog to the restrictions challenged in this case. This the government has failed to do.”

The gun control advocacy organization Everytown for Gun Safety did not respond to requests for comment. An Aug. 22, 2024, post on the Everytown webpage called the Morgan decision “appalling” and “reckless.”

“Machine guns ... have been tightly regulated under federal law since the 1930s,” Janet Carter, senior director of issues and appeals at Everytown Law, stated. “The laws banning them are not only constitutional but crucial to public safety.”

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