In Extreme and Reckless Decision, United States District Court for the District of Kansas Dismisses Machine Gun Possession Charges; Everytown Law Responds

KANSAS – United States District Court for the District of Kansas Judge John W. Broomes, a President Trump-appointee, recklessly dismissed machine gun possession charges on Second Amendment grounds yesterday, claiming them to be constitutionally protected “bearable arms,” despite decades of precedent and rulings to the contrary. 

“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.”

In his dismissal, Judge Broomes claims the government has failed to identify a historical analog to the restrictions challenged in this case, despite the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) – where Justice Scalia, writing for the majority, described as “startling” the mere suggestion that a law restricting machine guns “might be unconstitutional.” 

The defendant in the case was charged with two counts of illegal possession of a machine gun, as he was found with an AR-15-style machine gun and a “Glock switch,” a type of machine gun conversion device for Glock-style pistols.