Does the Second Amendment cover machine guns? That question has been asked since at least 1934, when the National Firearms Act (NFA) made them difficult to acquire legally – and therein lies a hint toward the answer: difficult, but not impossible. Last week, a Kansas judge took another stab at the issue. On August 21, US District Judge John Broomes dismissed two counts of unlawful possession of a machine gun, citing the Second Amendment and the Supreme Court rulings in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, Superintendent of New York State Police, et al. and United States v. Rahimi.
The constitutionality of the NFA – and any other federal firearm restrictions, for that matter – has been challenged by Second Amendment advocates since the first federal gun control laws were proposed. But there’s more to the question than simple legality; the right to…
