WICHITA, Kan. (AP and KWCH) – A federal judge in Kansas has tossed out a machine gun possession charge and questioned if bans on the weapons violate the Second Amendment.
If upheld on appeal, the ruling by U.S. District Judge John W. Broomes in Wichita could have a sweeping impact on the regulation of machine guns, including homemade automatic weapons that many police and prosecutors blame for fueling gun violence.
Broomes, an appointee of President Donald Trump, on Wednesday dismissed two machine gun possession counts against Tamori Morgan, who was indicted last year. 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.
“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.”
As of Friday, no appeal had been filed. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wichita declined comment.
“The glock switch has been illegal since 1986 for any civilians to own it. Outside of military and law-enforcement, it was illegal. This new case that has occurred has kind of set a new precedent in that regard,” said Josh Bowler, manger at The Bullet Stop in Wichita.
Bowers said glock switches area also deadly.
“Spray and pray, you’re putting a lot of rounds down range, a lot of lead down range and you lose control. Accuracy is just not there, semiautomatic is going to be a lot more controlled, a lot more accurate,” he said.
Federal prosecutors in the case said in earlier court filings that the “Supreme Court has made clear that regulations of machineguns fall outside the Second Amendment.”
A June 2022 Supreme Court ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen was seen as a major expansion of gun rights. The ruling said Americans have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense.
Jacob Charles, an associate law professor at Pepperdine University who tracks Second Amendment cases, said the Kansas ruling is direct fallout from the Bruen decision.
“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,” Charles said.
Charles expects Broomes’ ruling to be overturned, citing Supreme Court precedent allowing for regulation of machine guns.
Defense Attorney Dan Monnat who is not associated with the Wichita case, said moving forward, others charged with possession will try to use this ruling to their benefit.
“I presume everybody accused of possessing machine guns will use this case as precedent to contend that the cases can’t be prosecuted,” he said.
But he said this case is not yet settled law.
“No, unless double jeopardy attaches, the government can appeal this case to the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals or ask for review in the United States Supreme Court,” Monnat said.
Communities across the U.S. have dealt with a surge of shootings carried out with weapons converted to fully automatic in recent years. These weapons are typically converted using small pieces of metal made with a 3D printer or ordered online.
Guns with conversion devices have been used in several mass shootings, including one that left four dead at a Sweet Sixteen party in Alabama last year and another that left six people dead in a bar district in Sacramento, California, in 2022. In Houston, police officer William Jeffrey died in 2021 after being shot with a converted gun while serving a warrant.
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, the most recent data available, The Associated Press reported in March.
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Publish date : 2024-08-23 17:05:00
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