Wow!

Government claims that using a machinegun to commit a crime is a sentencing enhancement, not a discrete crime. SCOTUS disagrees:

The typical mandatory minimum is 5 years, but if the weapon is a machine gun, then the minimum becomes 30 years. The Court, in a unanimous decision, held that the determination of whether the weapon is a mere pistol or a machine gun must be made by the jury where the standard is beyond a reasonable doubt.

Another case of the government criminalizing the tool, not the act.

Doesn't matter to me if you used a tire iron, baseball bat, knife, gun, bazooka or M198 to murder me, I'm still dead. That should be the standard ... not what you used.

h/t Sebastian

pm