SCOTUS said it couldn't decide the Miller case because it didn't have, on the record, any evidence that a short barrel shotgun was or was not a sort of weapon used by the military.
And I'm not happy at all with the game that Scalia played in Heller. By Scalia's logic, a long standing unconstitutional ban becomes constitutional when the courts allow it to stand for a long time.
The situation is even worse than you imagine. The appellate courts are the tip of the iceberg. The attitude of trial courts about getting the law wrong is "you know how to take an appeal," knowing few defendants have the time or money to do so.
The court system is just as corrupt as Congress. Massive house of cards. Tons of outcome-oriented jurisprudence used to elevate the feds into a position of superiority over states and the people. The institution is a moral disgrace, IMO.
Yes. And we have gone so far down that wretched road that I don't see how we turn around and backtrack, what with stare decisis and all.