Gun Laws And 2a
Sixth Circuit Upholds Federal Ban on Machine Guns
Court rejects argument that machine guns are ‘common’ arms protected under Second Amendment
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✍️By ZRIntel Editorial Team📍Cincinnati, Ohio
A Sixth Circuit panel has upheld the federal prohibition on possessing machine guns, rejecting an appeal that sought to classify them as arms protected by the Second Amendment. The case involved defendant Bridges, who had been convicted of illegal possession of a machine gun. On appeal, Bridges argued that machine guns are sufficiently commonciting roughly 740,000 registered in the U.S.to fall under constitutional protection. Government attorneys countered that most are held by law enforcement and that only about 174,000 are privately owned, nearly all grandfathered in before the federal ban took effect. U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Griffin, writing for the panel, concluded that the ban under 18 U.S.C. 922(o) aligns with the historical tradition of prohibiting dangerous and unusual weapons, consistent with the Supreme Courts Heller decision. The court stressed that machine guns are neither typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes nor essential to the core right of self-defense. The ruling leaves intact longstanding federal restrictions on both complete machine guns and parts that can convert semiautomatics into fully automatic weapons. The decision comes amid intensified litigation across the country testing the boundaries of firearm regulations under Bruen. While some restrictions have been struck down, courts continue to uphold bans on weapons deemed outside common civilian use. This opinion reinforces that the common use test remains a high bar for challengers when the arms in question are tied to heightened public danger.