A U.S. District Court judge in Kansas on Wednesday dismissed machine gun possession charges against a defendant, finding that prosecutors hadn’t proven the weapons can be banned under the Second Amendment. The decision marks a potentially seismic shift in firearm regulations if it is appealed and stands. Machine guns have been restricted for decades – a ban that has remained in place even as unconstitutional restrictions on guns have been dramatically weakened over time. Judge John W. Broomes, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, dismissed two machine gun possession counts against Tamori Morgan, who was indicted by a federal grand jury for a Glock switch in April 2023. Broomes wrote that prosecutors hadn’t met their burden under two landmark U.S. Supreme Court gun rights cases – called Bruen and Rahimi – that require firearms restrictions to have historical analogs at the time of the nation’s founding. The government “fails to meet its burden to demonstrate that possession of the types of weapons at issue in this case are lawfully prohibited under the Second Amendment,” Broomes wrote.
https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article291318960.html