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TPPF's Derek Cohen talks with Chance Weldon, Director of Litigation at the Center for American Future, to break down a new lawsuit challenging the federal machine gun ban.
Second Amendment aside, does Congress even have the constitutional authority under the Commerce Clause to ban machine gun possession? Find out how a win could reshape federal regulation far beyond firearms.
1:09 – Overview of the Fifth Circuit case & Judge Willett's unique concurrence
1:52 – National Firearms Act (NFA) structure: bans, taxes, registration
2:22 – Why this challenge is Article I / Commerce Clause (not Second Amendment)
4:41 – What the Commerce Clause actually allows (channels, instrumentalities, substantial effects)
5:58 – Post-New Deal expansion & pushback: Lopez (1995), Morrison, Raich
7:42 – Substantial effects test & aggregation (Wickard wheat example)
10:05 – Would Texas residents suddenly buy machine guns? State vs. federal power
12:16 – Government's strongest counterarguments & old Fifth Circuit precedent
14:23 – Why this Supreme Court might limit Commerce Clause overreach (Thomas, Gorsuch, Alito, Roberts)
17:19 – Broader implications: eviction moratorium, OSHA vaccine mandate, corporate reporting
18:51 – Why non-gun owners should care: unlimited federal power threatens liberty & federalism
Second Amendment aside, does Congress even have the constitutional authority under the Commerce Clause to ban machine gun possession? Find out how a win could reshape federal regulation far beyond firearms.
1:09 – Overview of the Fifth Circuit case & Judge Willett's unique concurrence
1:52 – National Firearms Act (NFA) structure: bans, taxes, registration
2:22 – Why this challenge is Article I / Commerce Clause (not Second Amendment)
4:41 – What the Commerce Clause actually allows (channels, instrumentalities, substantial effects)
5:58 – Post-New Deal expansion & pushback: Lopez (1995), Morrison, Raich
7:42 – Substantial effects test & aggregation (Wickard wheat example)
10:05 – Would Texas residents suddenly buy machine guns? State vs. federal power
12:16 – Government's strongest counterarguments & old Fifth Circuit precedent
14:23 – Why this Supreme Court might limit Commerce Clause overreach (Thomas, Gorsuch, Alito, Roberts)
17:19 – Broader implications: eviction moratorium, OSHA vaccine mandate, corporate reporting
18:51 – Why non-gun owners should care: unlimited federal power threatens liberty & federalism
Creators and Guests
Host
Derek M. Cohen
Derek M. Cohen, Ph.D, is the Texas Public Policy Foundation's Chief Policy & Research Officer and Right on Crime Senior Fellow. Previously the Vice President of Policy and director of Right on Crime, the Foundation’s criminal justice reform initiative, Cohen was instrumental in the passage of the First Step Act, federal legislation that borrowed from successful changes to prisons and sentencing that he had helped pass in conservative states. In addition to leading the Foundation’s work on criminal justice, he is also the lead researcher of firearms policy.
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