Firearm Offenses

Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported that a group of democratic and republican senators had agreed on the framework of an agreement for legislation aimed at reducing gun violence in the wake of mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde. The potential legislation would push states to enact “red flag” laws, require background checks for juvenile and mental health records, and create new federal criminal offenses for gun trafficking and straw purchases. The news comes as AG Garland and the DOJ’s task forces have increased enforcement actions based on unlawful firearm purchasing and distribution.

In a matter of first impression, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a defendant’s sentence for illegally exporting firearms. The Court concluded that the lower offense level under USSG 2M5.2(a)(2) did not apply since the defendant’s offense involved more than 2 firearms, where the defendant had exported enough firearm parts to assemble two guns and enough spare parts to service additional firearms.

The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court’s denial of an inmate’s motion to vacate under 28 USC 2255. The Court held that the inmate had not pleaded guilty knowingly where he was not informed of the mens rea for unlawful firearm possession under Rehaif, despite evidence that he had previously been sentenced to prison for over a year and had been previously convicted of several felonies.

The Eleventh Circuit rejected a defendant’s constitutional challenge to his conviction for possession of a firearm by an unlawful alien. The Court held that the Second Amendment did not provide a right for illegal aliens to possess firearms since that right did not exist at the time of the amendment’s ratification.

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a defendant’s ACCA-enhanced sentence. While the defendant’s three prior convictions under Alabama law were punishable by less than ten years under Alabama’s sentencing guidelines, the Court relied on the statutory maximum of over 10 years for those convictions in holding that they were “serious drug offenses” under the ACCA.

The Fifth Circuit vacated a defendant’s sentence after holding that the district court improperly enhanced the sentence under 18 USC 3559(c). The Court concluded that the defendant’s prior convictions for aggravated assault under Texas law were not convictions for a “serious violent felony” under 3559(c) because a defendant need only act “recklessly” to be convicted.

The Fifth Circuit reversed a defendant’s conviction for carrying a firearm during a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime under 924(c). The trial court had erroneously instructedhe jury that it could find the defendants guilty of those charges if they used or carried a firearm in relation to either the “crime of violence” charged by their RICO conspiracy count or the drug trafficking crime charged, but RICO is not a “crime of violence” under Fifth Circuit precedent.

The Fifth Circuit reversed a defendant’s conviction for possession of a firearm by someone adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution. The trial court erroneously instructed the jury that it could find the defendant guilty based on finding he was either adjudicated a mental defective OR had previously been committed, though the indictment only alleged the former and not the latter.

The Third Circuit vacated a defendant’s sentence after holding the district court improperly enhanced the defendant’s offense level under the Guidelines based on the defendant’s prior conviction for conspiracy to commit second degree murder. The plain text of the relevant Guidelines provision does not include “conspiracy” under the definition of “crime of violence,” and courts may not rely on commentary to increase a defendant’s Guidelines range when the commentary goes beyond the plain text of the Guidelines.

The Tenth Circuit reversed a district court’s dismissal of attempted bank robbery charges under 18 USC 2113 where the district court found that the defendant’s attempt to hold up two victims at gunpoint and force them to withdraw money from an ATM did not amount to an attempted “bank robbery” since the defendant would be robbing them, not the bank. Deepening a circuit split between the Fifth Circuit and Seventh Circuit, the Tenth Circuit reversed, concluding that “using force to induce a bank customer to withdraw money from an ATM is federal bank robbery.”