Trump-Appointed Judge Throws Out Machine Gun Possession Case

A federal judge previously appointed by former President Donald Trump threw out a machine gun possession case this week.

On Friday, the Associated Press (AP) reported that U.S. District Judge John W. Broomes issued a ruling in Wichita, Kansas, dismissing two separate lawsuits against an individual identified as Tamori Morgan, who was previously accused of possessing a conversion device for his AM-15 .300-caliber machine gun known as a “Glock switch.” This device can make a semi-automatic gun fire bullets like a machine gun.

If upheld on appeal, U.S. District Judge John W. Broomes’ ruling in Wichita could have far-reaching implications for the regulation of machine guns, including homemade automatic weapons that law enforcement and prosecutors say are driving increased gun violence.

“The court finds that the Second Amendment applies to the weapons charged because they are ‘bearable arms’ within the original meaning of the amendment,” Judge Broomes wrote in the ruling.

The ruling added that the federal government “has the burden to show that the regulation is consistent with this nation’s historical firearm regulation tradition.”

Morgan was indicted in 2023 after he was found to be in possession of the machine gun conversion device.

Federal prosecutors have yet to file an appeal on Broomes’ ruling as of Friday afternoon.

In previous court filings, prosecutors said that the U.S. Supreme Court “has made clear that regulations of machine guns fall outside the Second Amendment.”

In 2022, a Supreme Court ruling in New York in the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen case allowed for Americans to have the right to carry certain firearms in public for self defense reasons. Many saw the ruling as a possible expansion of gun rights across the nation.

While speaking with the AP on Friday, Jacob Charles, an associate law professor at Pepperdine University and expert in Second Amendment cases, said that the ruling in Kansas is a result of the decision made in the Bruen case from 2022.

“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 told the AP.

However, Charles anticipates that Broomes’ ruling will be overturned, pointing to Supreme Court precedent that permits the regulation of machine guns.

Eric Ruben, an associate law professor at Southern Methodist University also told the AP he expects the ruling to be overturned.

“As far as I know, this is the first time in American history that a machine gun ban has been found unconstitutional in its application,” Ruben told the AP.