Last week, Twitter was on fire with the fact that a Kansas Judge threw out a machine gun case because it went against the Second Amendment. Specifically, based U.S. District Judge John W. Broomes says in his ruling, “The court finds that the Second Amendment applies to the weapons charged because they are ‘bearable arms’ within the original meaning of the amendment.”
I wanted to fly to the keyboard to write an article on Friday, but I couldn’t find proof outside of screenshots posted on Twitter. The website that allows you to look up cases and rulings kept giving me errors. However, as the weekend wore on, numerous outlets confirmed the case, and I’m glad I waited because seeing the event’s media coverage has amused me greatly and might amuse you as well.
Machine Gun Law
Tamori Morgan is the defendant that the Judge ruled in favor of. I tried to find more information on the case, but all I could find was a 2021 article from the Wichita Eagle regarding a car chase in which a man named Tamori Morgan was involved. These two men are likely the same person, but it isn’t 100% clear.
It’s tough to find information on how Mr. Morgan was busted with two machine guns. However, we do know he had one machine gun and one machine gun conversion device. The district judge declared both bearable, and the case was dismissed. No appeal has been filed from the government, and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Wichita has not commented on the case.
Judge John W. Broomes also stated that the government “has the burden to show that the regulation is consistent with this nation’s historical firearm regulation tradition.” So Bruen has made a big impact. This appears to be the first time a machine gun ban has been found unconstitutional.
What’s impressive is that Mr. Morgan had a public defender who filed the motion to dismiss in November. The public defender David Freund wrote the machine gun ban “offends the history and tradition of the Second Amendment.”
The Machine Guns
News coverage about guns is always fun. It’s also often wrong. For example, according to Newsweek, and I’m quoting, “Tamori Morgan, who was previously accused of possessing a conversion device for his AM-15 .300-caliber machine gun known as a ‘Glock switch.'”
In reality, Morgan had a converted AR-15 pistol that likely used a lightning link or similar conversion device in his Anderson AM-15 .300 Blackout pistol. He was also charged with possessing a Glock Switch that converts Glocks to full auto. Machine gun parts are often considered machine guns.
What’s odd is that according to photos by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the AM-15 was a machine gun, but it still didn’t have a stock. I mean, if you’re going to make a machine gun, you might as well attach a stock to it. It’s also sight and optics-free, which also makes it hilarious to me.
The Glock conversion was confiscated alongside a Glock 33, which is a .357 SIG Glock. It seems like the Glock switch was separate from the Glock at the time of arrest.
The News Coverage
As mentioned, the news coverage of the case has a few errors in describing the weapons, but that’s common. One thing every news article seemed to mention was that the Judge was a Trump appointee. I don’t think I’ve ever read that more than when researching this case.
Everytown, the billionaire-funded anti-gun group, is in a tizzy. They had this to say:
“It’s appalling that the District Court would so brazenly put the deadly agenda of the gun lobby over the safety of Kansans. We are shocked and dismayed by this decision,” said Janet Carter, senior director of issues and appeals at Everytown Law. “Machine guns – guns capable of automatic firing – have been tightly regulated under federal law since the 1930s. The laws banning them are not only constitutional but crucial to public safety. These weapons of war, capable of causing irreparable harm to countless innocent people, have no place in our communities.”
Many have pointed out the rise of Glock switches in use by criminals, specifically in gang violence. They link to shooting where Glock switches were used and comment on how dangerous they are. Most take the stance that such devices are a clear and present danger and shouldn’t be legal. They completely ignore the fact that even though they are illegal criminals, they already have these switches regardless of the law.
Which comes with the argument, “Well, we shouldn’t have any laws then!” This ignores that owning a machine gun hurts no one. It’s a victimless crime to own an unregistered machine gun. We have laws against using guns illegally, and that makes sense, but having laws about possessing guns is silly. Victimless crimes shouldn’t create felonies with ten-year prison sentences.
