The Importance of Understanding What Questions You Will Be Asked

U.s. v. Morgan (10th Cir. 2025) is an appeal of a district court decision that ruled that machine guns are protected by the Second Amendment.  (YES!)  i have started listening to the oral arguments.

Even before the U.S. attorney got a paragraph into his argument,  one of the judges corrected him that his quote from Heller that limited the Second Amendment to arms that were in common use for self-defense was incorrect; the decision did not limit it to arms that could be used for self-defense.

Two of the judges are asking really good questions about how to apply Bruen tests.  The U.S. attorney is stumbling over his own argument. 

I will keep listening.   Other excerpts that I have heard excerpted suggest that attorneys arguing for protection did an inadequate job preparing for the "are surface to air missiles arms?  Are nuclear weapons arms?"  Being able to clearly draw distinctions that have an historical basis matters. 

The defense attorney is clearly not technologically aware.  He tries to distinguish a full auto AR15 from a machine gun in not having a 500 round capacity.