Quote Originally Posted by C Ward View Post
The court case was almost a slam dunk that would have struck down the law . The defendant , a depression era moonshiner arrested for a short barreled shotgun was a no show and a default judgment was found against him . There are many legal historians that have looked at the case and pretty much all agree that if he would have showed up the NFA of 34 would have been struck down .
No, not at all. The case was a set up specifically to get a Supreme Court ruling that NFA was constitutional. There wasn't any chance of it being found unconstitutional. The District Court ruling that struck it down was written by a judge known to be pro gun control. It was a set up. Frankly, in my opinion, incompetently done, as Justice McReynolds' reputation on the Supreme Court was that of a less than competent opinion writer.