The original Miller decision was decided based on the reasoning that the particular model cut down shotgun had never been a military arm so it wasn't covered. But it explicitly stated that the point was to ensure civilians had military arms.
Every single ruling since then has completely ignored the precedent of Miller to use it to approve of laws grossly violating it.
This, in spades. They hate
HATE HATE when you point that out to them, as well - "So, what you're saying is that I ought to be able to buy a select-fire Colt M-4 or M-16 for the exact same price as the military and law-enforcement pay? I remember a few years back seeing M-16s for sale to law-enforcement agencies at $500 a pop. Sounds good to me!"
As to the judge - "No, why SHOULD we consider a single semi-auto-only rifle design that constitutes something like 2% of ALL CIVILIAN-HELD FIREARMS IN THIS COUNTRY as 'common'? With literally MILLIONS of ARs in the hands of MILLIONS of people, why on EARTH should we consider such a rifle 'common'?"
The smackdown ought to be nice, though.
NRA claims 5 million AR-type rifles in the US, as of late last year; closing on 2% of the total # of firearms in the US.