“Trump administration says machine guns aren’t protected by Second Amendment,” The Washington Times reported two weeks ago.
“Machine guns are not the kind of arms protected by the Second Amendment,” Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Case argued in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. “Machine guns are not typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes. Instead, they are uniformly restricted, highly lethal and well suited to criminal purposes.”
“Feds insist Second Amendment doesn’t protect machine guns,” Courthouse News Service reported Wednesday on another case. “Machine guns are atypical weapons not protected by the Second Amendment because a reasonable person would not expect them to be used in militia service, the federal government argued Wednesday before an appeals panel.”
What unsupportable nonsense that is:
The weapons that were in common use in the Founding Era were precisely the arms the military had, that is, what was in common use by the infantry. Considering that many Patriots were equipped with rifles and the standard issue British long arm was a musket, in those cases, “the authorities” were even “outgunned.” We simply cannot ignore that the militia, at the time the Second Amendment was ratified, kept the same types of weapons at home as they were likely to encounter when called forth – otherwise, they would be marching off to their slaughter. That’s hardly an outcome that would be “necessary to the security of a free State.”
These are two cases that go to the heart of what the Second Amendment is ultimately about, and they lead to an inconvenient truth for everyone trying to dance around its edges.
Yet aside from this correspondent’s recent Firearms News offering, there’s very little information about this being shared by influential voices in the Second Amendment community at this writing (Thursday afternoon, May 8), and that’s curious considering all the major gun groups have been doing handsprings praising the Trump Administration and Attorney General Pam Bondi for personnel assignments and their “Second Amendment Task Force.”
At this writing, there is nothing about the administration’s machinegun position on any of the major national gun association websites or on their social media pages. See for yourself, and if something is posted, check the date stamp and remember it’s been two weeks since the Bondi DOJ’s position was first reported.
Why?
Arguing that there’s not enough political power to change the status quo, and admittedly there’s not, is no answer. That’s irrelevant to the truth, and that doesn’t explain why these groups haven’t treated this like the major story for their members that it is. If it’s because they’re all invested in staying on Donald Trump’s good side, that’s the opposite of how things should be, and if the guy is so mercurial that questioning his administration puts him in attack mode, then what do we really have? We’re the ones who put him over the tip—we shouldn’t have to walk on eggshells.
It’s also further evidence that Pam Bondi’s Task Force, without gun advocate participation, and where all of its members feed from the same hand, is going to keep coming up with negative surprises—for us and for the administration.
Here’s the inarguable truth: If machine guns aren’t protected, the Second Amendment is a dead letter and anyone who maintains otherwise is a fraud.
I discussed this Wednesday on Armed American Radio’s Daily Defense with host Mark Walters:
05-07-25 David Codrea for the WIN! “In common use” works against us?
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
