[ PUBLISH] 

## In the 

# United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________
No. 20

- 11035

____________________
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff

- Appellee,

versus CHRISTOPHER DANIEL STINES,

Defendant

- Appellant.

____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 1:19

- cr

- 20566

- JEM

- 1

____________________ USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 1 of 232 Opinion of the Court 20

- 11035

Before W ILSON , L UCK , and L AGOA , Circuit Judges.

W ILSON , Circuit Judge :
In t his sentencing appeal , we interpret U.S.S.G. § 2M5.2 (a)(2) for the first time in a published decision. That subsection sets a lower base offense level for defendants convicted of illegally export ing weapons if the offense involved only non

- fully automatic small arms and there were no more than two weapons. The question here is whether a defendant who export s enough weapons parts for two operable firearms , along with additional parts to s ervice addit ional firearms
, can take advantage of the lower base offense level

. After careful review, and with the benefit of oral argument, we answer that question in the negative

. Such an offense involve s more than the two weapons § 2M5.2(a)(2) allow s

. We therefore affirm.
I
On e late

- summer day in 2019, Christopher Stines, a Haitian gunsmith, arrived at Miami International Airport. He was scheduled to take Air France F light 619 to Port

- au

- Prince, Haiti. As it turned out, United States Customs and Bo rder Protection agents

were conducting an outbound border search that day. When the agents searched Stines’s luggage, the y found 23 AR

- 15 parts : eight triggers, five selector switches, three hammers, two disconnectors, three hammer and trigger pins, and t wo trigger guards. These parts are designated “defense articles” by the United States USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 2 of 2320

- 11035 Opinion of the Court 3 Munitions List, and they cannot be exported from the United States without a n export license. Stines did not have an export license.
The authorities detained Stines f or questioning

. After waiving his Miranda rights
, Stines agreed to speak with agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)

. H e told the agents that he had purchased weapons only a few times through various websites. A search of his iPhone, however, cast doubt on that claim. The email account on Stines’s iPhone contained more than 20 invoices for purchases of weapons parts dating back to 2012

. An HSI agent inquired whether Stine s had exported these parts, but Stines did not respond, and the agent ended the interview. Federal law enforcement conducted a follow

- up investigation and found that Stines had purchased hundreds of weapons parts between 2013 and
20 19 . He had those parts shipped to the residence of his aunt and uncle in Homestead, Florida.
T he g overnment filed an indictment charging Stines with smuggling goods from the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 554(a) (Count One) , and with attempting to unlawfully export defense articles in violation of 22 U.S.C. § 2778 (b)(2) and (c) (Count Two) . Stines pleaded guilty to Count One in exchange for the government dismissing Count Two. Following the guilty plea, the United States Probation Of fice prepared a presentence investigation report ( PSI)

. T he PSI explained that a probation officer had confirmed with the government that the 23 weapons parts seized from Stines “were not capable of being converted to more than two firearms.” But the PSI USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 3 of 234 Opinion of the Court 20

- 11035

also stated that when considering all the weapons parts Stines had purchase d since 2013, those parts could be converted to at least four firearms. The PSI then calculated Stines’s base offense level as
26 , pursuant to § 2M5.2(a)( 1 ) of the United States S entencing Guidelines . After a three

- point reduction for acceptance of responsibility and assisting authorities
, Stines’s total offense level was 23. With a criminal history category of I, his recommended G uideline s range was 46

– 57 months.
Stines objected to the PSI
, arguing that
, pursuant to § 2M5.2(a)( 2 ) , his base offense level should have been 14 rather than
26 because the weapons parts that were seized could be converted to only two functional weapons

. He also filed a motion for a downward de parture. At the sentencing hearing, the district court overruled Stines’s objection and denied his motion for a downward departure

. Although the d istrict court did not explicitly address Stines’s objection to his base offense level, it explain ed its reas oning for denying the downward departure. T he district court observed that Stines appear ed to have been working in concert with the Haitian police force, who were engag ed “in fire

- fights with the Haitian Army.” Noting the “extremely volatile political situation” in Haiti, the court found that Stines’s conduct affected the foreign policy interests of the United States, which militated against granting a downward departure. Accordingly, the court sentenced Stines to 46 months ’ imprisonment and two years of supervised release

— a
sentence at the low end of the G uidelines range

. USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 4 of 2320

- 11035 Opinion of the Court 5

II On appeal, Stines argues that the district court erred in overruling his object ion to his base offense level. He also contends that the di strict court should have granted a downward departure from the Sentencing Guidelines. We address those contention s in turn.
A
We review de novo the district court’s interpretation and application of the S entencing G uidelines
, and we review its underlying factual findings for clear error

. United States v. Maddox , 803 F.3d 1215, 1220 (11th Cir. 2015) (per curiam). “When interpreting the guidelines, we apply the ‘ traditional rules of statutory construction [

. ] ’ ” United States v. Fulford , 662 F.3d 1174, 1177 (11th Cir. 2011) (quoting United States v. Shannon , 631 F.3d 1187, 11 89 (11th Cir. 2011) )

. T he Guideline at issue , § 2M5.2,“Exportation of Arms, Munitions, or Military Equipment or Services Without Required Validated Export License,” provides: (a) Ba se Offense Level: (1) 26 , except as provided in subdivision (2) below; (2) 14 , if the offense involved only (A) non

- fully automatic small arms (rifles, handguns, or shotguns), and the number of weapons did not exceed two, (B) ammunition for non

- fully autom atic small arms, and the number of rounds did not exceed 500, or (C) both. USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 5 of 236 Opinion of the Court 20

- 11035

U.S.S.G. § 2M5.2

. Stines does not contest that hi s offense involved the exportation of weapons parts and thus falls under the umbrella of § 2M5.2 (a). He argues, however, that his offense fits within § 2M5.2(a) (2)(A)’s carveout for less serious offenses

. To that end, Stines makes two arguments . First, he argues that his relevant conduct for sentencing purposes encompasses only the 23 AR

- 15 parts t hat were seized at the airport and with whic h he was charged. A lthough the government produced invoices showing that Stines purchased hundreds of weapons parts over the last decade, Stines argues that purchasing weapons parts is not by itself criminal act ivity

. Without a showing that Stines exported th o se parts, the argument goes, the purchases are not relevant conduct for sentencing purposes. The government does not meaningfully dispute this point in its brief. Se cond

— and building on his first argument

— Stines contends that his offense for exportation of 23 weapons parts is an “offense involv[ing] only [ ] non

- fullyautomatic small arms,” where “the number of weapons did not exceed two.” See § 2M5.2(a)(2)(A). That is so, he argues, because the 23 weapons parts could be converted to no more than two fully

functioning AR

- 15s. As a result, he says that he was entitled to the lower base offense level of 14 under § 2M5.2(a)(2)

. The government does not dispute that AR

- 15s are non

- fully automatic sma ll

arms , but it argues that Stines’s offense cannot qualify for the lower base offense level because the carveout does not apply to offenses involving firearm parts

. USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 6 of 2320

- 11035 Opinion of the Court 7 Resolution of this case does not require us to decide whether Stines is correct on th e fi rst point because , for the reasons explained below, he cannot qualify for the lower base offense level even assuming his offense involved only 23 weapons parts

. As a starting point, we must consider whether subsection (a)(2) can ever apply to an offense like Stines ’s that involves AR

- 15 parts

. We think it can for a simple reason: t he Guideline s do not purport to distinguish between assembled and disassembledweapons. A t least in theory
, then, a n offense involving nothing more than the parts of two AR

- 15s

— that is, two AR

- 15s broken down to their components

— could fit within the scope of § 2M5.2(a)(2).
This view is supported by the fact that appellate courts, including th is Court, have equated “weaponry” with component parts for weaponry, when interpreting prior versions of § 2M5.2. For example, in United States v. Fu Chin Chung , we concluded that the G uidelines did not distinguish between sophisticated weaponry and parts that could be mapped to sophisticated weaponry. 931 F.2d 43, 46 (11th Cir. 1991) (per curiam) (“[W]e have no difficulty in concluding that . . . the cathode assembly that is part of [a missile] guidance system, constitutes sophisticated weaponry.”); see also United States v. Tsai , 954 F.2d 155, 163 (3d Cir. 1992) (“[I]t is sufficient if the item in question is a component of a sophisticated weapon or weapons system. That is the more sensible reading of the Guideline since otherwise the enhancement would be inapplicable to a defendant who separately shipped component parts of a sophisticated weapons system.”); United States v. USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 7 of 238 Opinion of the Court 20

- 11035

Nissen , 928 F.2d 690, 69 4 (5th Cir. 1991) (per curiam) (holding thatparts were “sophisticated weaponry” because they “were ‘involv ed’ in a tangible way with ‘sophisticated weaponry.’”). Because t he term “weaponry,” which was used in the prior version of § 2M5.2, is synonymous with the term “weapons,” which is used in the current version of § 2M5.2
, s ee Weaponry, Oxford English Dictionary (3d ed.) (defining the term “weaponry” as “[w]eapons collectively”)
, we see no reason to depart f rom our, and our sister courts’, prior interpretation. A simple example illustrates the point

. Imagine that a district judge is tasked wit h sentencing a defendant who tried to smuggle two AR

- 15s out of the country by disassembling the guns and placing the ir parts in his luggage. On those facts, the district judge could find that the offense “involved only [ ] non

- fully automatic small arms, ” albeit in disassembled form, “and the number of weapons did not exceed two.” § 2M5.2(a)(2). Such an offense would thus qualify for a base offense level of 14. Stines’s offense, however, is unlike th e one in our hypothetical because his offense did no t involve a set of parts that could be mapped to only two AR

- 15s. H is offense involved
, f or example, eight AR

- 15 triggers that w ould service eight AR

- 15s

. So to the extent Stines’s offense involving AR

- 15 parts can be described as an offense involving non

- fully automatic small arms, the number of AR

- 15s involved would exceed the maximum two weapons permitted by subsection (a)(2) (A)

. USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 8 of 2320

- 11035 Opinion of the Court 9

In fairness to Stines , we recognize that our interpretation could lead to results that are at least counterint uitive. See Oral Argument Recording at 6: 0 0

– 6:44

. Under our reading, for instance
, a defendant exporting just three AR

- 15 triggers

— and nothing else

— would get the higher base offense level (because those triggers would service three AR

- 15s), while a defendant with two fully operable AR

- 15s would get the lower base offense level. Yet for at least two reasons, this sort of hypothetical does not persuade us to depart from the Guidelines ’ plain meaning.
First, we apply the absurd results canon quite ca utiously
, and we cannot say that it is truly absurd to measure the harm caused by the smuggling of weapons parts by mapping those parts to the weapons they would service

. 1 See CBS Inc. v. PrimeTime 24 Joint Venture , 245 F.3d 1217 , 1228 (11th Cir. 2001)

. Second , the absurd results canon could cut both ways here

. Under Stines’s approach, we would focus on the number of fully

- functioning weapons to which the relevant weapons parts could be converted

. T he government ’s brief points out th at, under that view, “[a] criminal

1 We note that the Ninth Circuit, without even mentioning the absurd results canon, held that offenses involving the exportation of military equipment, such as night

- vision devices, trigger a base offense level of 26. See United States v. Carper , 659 F.3d 923, 925 (9th Cir. 2011 ). Such offenses did not fit within § 2M5.2(a)(2) because they did not involve “non

- fully automatic small arms.” Id. Though one might question the wisdom of treating a defendant with one set of night

- vision goggles more harshly than a defendant with two AR

- 15s, the Ninth Circuit found itself bound to follow the “plain meaning of

. . . § 2M5.2(a)(2).” Id. USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 9 of 2310 Opinion of the Court 20

- 11035 who exported thousands of nearly operable firearms

— perhaps missing only one necessary piece

— would automatically receive a base offense level of 14

. ” That result is at least as dubious as any that our reading might produc e

. Therefore, we adhere to the Guidelines ’ plain meaning, under which the district court correctly applied a base offense level of 26

. B The second issue in this appeal is straightforward. Stines argues that the district court should have departed downward from the recommended Guidelines range when imposing his sentence. Stines points to Application Note 1 of the Guidelines
, which provide s that “[t]he base offense level assumes that the offense conduct was harmful or had the potential to b e harmful to a security or foreign policy interest of the United States. In the unusual case where the offense conduct posed no such risk, a downward departure may be warranted.” U.S.S.G. § 2M5.2 n.1. Stines argues that his conduct posed no risk to nati onal security
, and that, accordingly, the district court should have departed downwar d

. The problem for Stines is that a district court’s denial of a downward departure request is a discretionary decision that is not reviewable unless the district court erroneously believed it lacked the authority to grant one. United States v. Chase , 174 F.3d 1193, 1195 (11th Cir. 1999). That was not the case here. T he district

court reasoned that a downward departure was unwarranted because Stines’s co nduct had the potential to harm national security. In support of its finding, the court referenced political instability USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 10 of 2320

- 11035 Opinion of the Court 11 and violence in Haiti, the proximity of Haiti to the United States, and the fact that Stines had worked as a gunsmith for the Haitian police, who were at times “engaged in fire

- fights” with the Haitian government. Because the district court knew it had the authority to grant a downward departure but chose not to grant one , we lack jurisdiction to review that determination

. See id.
III In conclusion, we hold that: (1) the district court applied the correct base offense level because Stines’s offense does not fit within the narrow carveout set forth in § 2M5.2(a)(2)(A); and (2) we lack jurisdiction to review the district court’s discreti onary decision not to depart downward from the Guidelines. Accordingly, we affirm. AFFIRMED. USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 11 of 23USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 12 of 2320

- 11035 L UCK , J., Concurring in part and in the judgment 1

L UCK , Circuit Judge, concurring in part and in the judgment:The majority opinion concludes that: (1) we don’t have jurisdiction to review the district court’s denial of Christopher Daniel Stines’ s motion for downward departure under application note

one in sentencing guideline section 2M5.2; and (2) the district court correctly applied guideline section 2M5.2(a)(1)’s base offense level of twenty

- six because Stines’ s offense conduct didn’t fit within the narrow carveout for a base offense level of fourteen in section 2M5.2(a)(2). I proudly join the part of the majority opinion (part II.B) on the downward departure issue. As to the base offense level issue (part II.A) , I agree with the majority opinion’s conclusion that the base offense level is twenty

- six under section 2M5.2(a)(1), and the narrow carveout in section 2M5.2(a)(2) doesn’t apply, but I would get there in a slightly different way. Everyone agrees that guideline section 2M5.2 applies to Stines’ s attempted shipment of gun parts. The only questio n is which base offense level within section 2M5.2 applies here. There are two options. The first option is in section 2M5.2(a)(1), which

sets a default base offense level of twenty

- six for offense conduct that falls within the guideline for the exportat ion of arms, munitions, or military equipment or services without a required validated export license . U.S.S.G. § 2M5.2(a)(1). The second option is a “narrow” “except[ion]” to the default base offense level. Id. ; see also id. A pp. C , A mend. 753 (R eason for A mend ment). “[I]f the offense involved only . . . non

- fully automatic small arms (rifles, handguns, or shotguns), and the number of weapons did not USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 13 of 232 L UCK , J., Concurring in part and in the judgment 20

- 11035
exceed two,” then the base offense level is fourteen instead of twenty

- six. Id. § 2M5.2(a)(2)(A). 1
Th e district court calculated Stines’ s advisory guideline range using the default base offense level in section 2M5.2(a)(1). Stines argued to the district court, and argues to us on appeal, that his offense level should have been calculated using the narrow exception in section 2M5.2(a)(2)(A) because the gun parts he attempted to export , if assembled, could make only two complete AR

- 15 rifles

— with some parts to spare

— which are non

- fully automatic small arms and no more than two weapons. So, the issue is whe ther the twenty

- three gun parts that Stines attempted to export into Haiti are “non

- fully automatic small arms.” Are gun parts “arms”? If they’re not, then the narrow exception

—which only applies to “non

- fully automatic small arms”

— doesn’t apply, and the default base offense level does.The section 2M5.2(a)(2)(A) narrow exception has three textual clues that gun parts are not “arms.” First, the term “arms” is not defined in the guidelines, but the Oxford English Dictionary defines “arms” as “[w]eapons of war or combat; (items of) militaryequipment, both offensive and defensive”; “[f]irearms; [and] weapons, such as pistols, rifles, shotguns, or muskets, from which a

1 The narrow exception also applies “if the offense involved only . . . ammunition for non

- fully automatic small arms, and the number of rounds did no t exceed 500,” id. § 2M5.2(a)(2)(B), but this is not an ammunition case, so this part of the narrow exception doesn’t apply to Stines. USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 14 of 2320

- 11035 L UCK , J., Concurring in part and in the judgment 3 missile can be propelled at speed by means of an explosive charge.” Arms , Oxford English Dictionary (online ed.) (last visited Apr. 14, 2022). See United States v. Dougherty , 754 F.3d 1353, 1359 (11th Cir. 2014) (using dictionaries, including the Oxford English Dictionary , to define the undefined guideline term “immediate flight”). Triggers, switches, hammers, disconnectors, pins, and guards

— the parts Stines attempted to export

— may be components of an offensive or defensive weapon, but they are not themselves weapons. No one ever used j ust a trigger or just a switch in combat without more

. Second, the section 2M5.2(a)(2)(A) narrow exception gives some examples of “small arms.” After the phrase “small arms,” the narrow exception lists, inside a parenthetical, “rifles, handguns, or shotgu ns.” U.S.S.G. § 2M5.2(a)(2)(A). Those are the kinds of “small arms” that fall within the narrow exception to the default base offense level for exporting munitions without a license. Eachof the examples in the narrow exception supports the common defin ition of “arms.” They are each weapons of war or combat and firearms. But the parts Stines had in his suitcase

— like disconnectors and pins

— are not similar to, o r the equivalent of, rifles, handguns, or shotguns. A disconnector , unlike those guns, can’t propel a missile.And third, section 2M5.2(a)(2)(A) says that the narrow exception applies “ only ” to “non

- fully automatic small arms” like “rifles, handguns, or shotguns.” Id. (emphasis added). By adding the word “only,” the guidelines emphasized that an ything that is not a USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 15 of 234 L UCK , J., Concurring in part and in the judgment 20

- 11035 “small arm” like a rifle, handgun, or shotgun does not fall within the narrow exception. As the Fifth Circuit succinctly explained in interpreting the same guideline, “‘only’ means ‘only.’” United States v. Diaz

- Gomez , 680 F.3d 477, 480 (5th Cir. 2012). Gun parts are not “only” rifles, handguns, or shotguns. They are the parts of those things, but they are not “only” th os e things. The few circuits that have interpreted the section 2M5.2(a)(2)(A) narrow exception have read it the sam e way. The narrow exception now includes “non

- fully automatic small arms”and “ammunition,” but before 2011, section 2M5.2(a)(2) only applied to “non

- fully automatic small arms.” “Ammunition” wasn’t mentioned. Before section 2M5.2(a)(2) was amended, the Seventh and Fifth Circuits addressed whether exporting ammunition fell within the carveout to the default base offense level.

In United States v. Muthana , 60 F.3d 1217 (7th Cir. 1995), thedefendant was convicted of “knowingly and willfully using an export control document which contained a false statement and omitted a material fact to export defense articles.” Id. at 1219. The defendant wrote on the export control document that the “shipment to Yemen contained 3,086 pounds of honey rather than approximately 56,000 rounds of ammunition.” Id. As here, the Muthana defendant argued that the district court erred in applying the default base offense level r ather than the base offense level in the section 2M5.2(a)(2) narrow exception. Id. at 1224. The narrow exception, the court explained, “establishes a base offense level of fourteen ‘if the offense involved only non

- fully automatic small USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 16 of 2320

- 11035 L UCK , J., Concurring in part and in the judgment 5
arms (rifles, han dguns, or shotguns), and the number of weapons did not exceed ten.’” Id. (quoting section 2M5.2(a)(2)). (The narrow exception has since been amended to two weapons.) The Seventh Circuit rejected the defendant’s argument because his “offense involved app roximately 56,000 rounds of ammunition, so [g]uideline [section] 2M5.2(a)(2) d [id] not apply.” Id.
The Fifth Circuit reached the same conclusion in Diaz

Gomez . There, the defendant pleaded guilty to “(1) attempting to export a nine

- millimeter semi

- automa tic handgun, five ammunition magazines, 611 rounds of nine

- millimeter ammunition, and fifty rounds of .38 caliber ammunition, and (2) concealing the items for export.” Diaz

- Gomez , 680 F.3d at 478. The defendant argued that the default base offense level in section 2M5.2(a)(1) didn’t apply to his offense conduct “because he pleaded guilty to an offense involving only one semi

- automatic weapon.” Id. at 479. The Fifth Circuit focused on “ whether the use of the word ‘only’ in subsection (a)(2) limits the ap plication of the lower base offense level to an offense that truly involves only non

- fully automatic weapons and no ammunition.” Id. at 480. T he court explained that it saw “no reason to interpret the plain meaning of the term ‘only’ to mean anything other than ‘only.’” Id. The defendant “did not have ‘only’ one small gun hidden in his car

— he also had more than 600 rounds of ammunition that co uld be used in the gun,” and “theguideline does not permit finding an exception for including ammunition.” Id. at 480

– 81 (quoting United States v. Sero , 520 F.3d 187, 190 (2d Cir. 2008)). USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 17 of 236 L UCK , J., Concurring in part and in the judgment 20

- 11035 Just as one necessary component of a gun

— the ammunition

— is not “on ly” a n “arm,” so too is another necessary part of the gun

— the trigger

— not only a n arm. The hilt of a sword is a component of a weapon, but it is not itself a weapon. By itself

— like a trigger or a guard

— the h ilt does nothing. Triggers and guards are part s of a gun
, but they are not themselves weapons used in combat like “rifles, handguns, or shotguns.” Stines’ s gunparts do not fall within the section 2M5.2(a)(2)(A) narrow exception. Stines argues that, despite the guideline’s plain language, reading “ar ms” as ex cluding gun parts would lead to an absurd result that the sentencing commission couldn’t have intended

. See Small v. United States, 544 U.S. 385, 404 (2005) (Thomas, J., dissenting) (explaining that the “canon against absurdities” should be emplo yed “where the result of applying the plain language would be, in a genuine sense, absurd, i.e., where it is quite impossible that Congress could have intended the result and where the alleged absurdity is so clear as to be obvious to most anyone” (quotati on and ellipsis omitted)). If he had attempted to transport two assembled AR

- 15s and nothing else , Stines argues, the narrow exception would have appl ied to give him a base offense level of fourteen , but if he had broken those two AR

- 15s down into their c onstituent parts to transport, the higher default base offense level of twenty

six would have appl ied

. T his result is not absurd. The sentencing commission, in 2011, amended section 2M5.2(a)(2)(A) to reduce
, from ten to two, USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 18 of 2320

- 11035 L UCK , J., Concurring in part and in the judgment 7

the amount of “non

- fully autom atic small arms” carved out fromthe default base offense level. The commission narrowed the exception because, it determined, “export offenses involving morethan two firearms are more serious and more likely to involve trafficking.” U.S.S.G. A pp. C , A m end. 753 (R eason for A mend ment)

. The commission intended greater punishment (through a higherbase offense level) for offense conduct more likely to involve trafficking.

I f Stines had tried to ship two AR

- 15 rifles from the United States to Haiti, it woul d be less likely that the shipment was meant to traffic the firearms. But , if those two rifles were disassembled into twenty parts and he tried to ship those twenty parts, the attempted shipment of twenty gun part s would have involve d more than two firear ms and thus would have been more serious and more likely to involve trafficking

. This is because e ach part is a component of one AR

- 15 rifle, so the twenty parts are components of as many as twenty AR

- 15 rifles. And that amount of rifles, as the sentencing commission explained, i s much more likely to involve trafficking in firearms

. Shipping gun parts instead of whole guns is also more likely to involve trafficking in firearms because a trafficker is more likely to ship small parts to avoid detection. A trafficker can tuck a riflepin away in a little suitcase compartment better than he can conceal a whole rifle. But if he shipped two gun s , th at shipment would have involved only two hard

- to

- miss guns. USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 19 of 238 L UCK , J., Concurring in part and in the judgment 20

- 11035

Stines shipp ed twenty

- three easier

- to

- conceal gun parts

. Necessary parts that can service up to twenty

- three gun s are more dangerous and worthier of the higher default base offense level than two guns are

. Because gun parts are not “non

- fully automatic small arms,” and applying the default base offense level is not absurd, I agree with the majority opinion that we should affirm Stines’ s sentence. USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 20 of 2320

- 11035 L AGOA , J., Concurring 1

L AGOA , Circuit Judge, concurring:
I concur in full with the majority’s opinion. I write separately to explain why I disagree with Judge Luck’s opinion concurring in part.That opinion disagrees with the majority opinion’s interpretation of U.S.S.G. § 2M5.2(a)(2) : that component parts of a non

fully automatic small arm are weapons. Looking at the definition of the term “arms,” the concurrence in part suggests that the relevant AR

- 15 parts are not themselves “ arms ” that can be taken into combat or war. Luck, J., Concur. Op. at 2

– 3. But an AR

- 15 is an end

- item that is the sum of its component parts. And the parts Stines attempted to export are “(items of) military equipment,” as designated by the United States Munitions List , even though the parts are not, themselves, the end

- item

. Arms, Oxford English Dictionary (3d ed.) (defining the term “arms” as “[w]eapons of war or combat; (items of ) military equipment, both offensive and defensive; munitions”); see 22 C.F.R. § 121.1(a)(1) (the United States Munitions List categories “usually start by enumerating or otherwise describing end

- items, followed by major systems and equipment; parts, components, accessories, and attachments”). Indeed, the Munitions List

— which is referenced in § 2M5.2 , Application Note
1

— categorizes both firearms and comp onent parts of firearms and guns and components parts of guns, as single categories of defense articles. See 22 C.F.R. § 121.1 (“Category I Firearms and Related Articles” and “Category II Guns and Armament”). USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 21 of 2320

- 11035 L AGOA , J., Concurring 2 The concurrence in part also suggests that exp orting component parts of non

- fully automatic small arms does not involve only “non

- fully automatic small arms.” Luck, J. Concur. at 3

– 4. Insupport, the opinion cites cases which held that, under a prior version of § 2M5.2(a)(2) , exporting ammunition in addition to non

fully automatic firearms was not an offense that involved only non

fully automatic weapons. Id. at 4

– 7 (citing United States v. Muthana , 60 F.3d 1217 (7th Cir. 1995) and United States v. Diaz

Gomez , 680 F.3d 477 (5th Cir. 2012) ). But unlike firearm parts or gun parts, which together with their end

- items form a single category of defense articles, ammunition is its own separate category of defense articles under the U.S. Munitions List. See 22 C.F.R. § 121.1 (“Category II I Ammu nition and Ordinance ”). And the parties do not dispute that the relevant parts are components only for “non

- fully automatic small arms.” Finally, a note about the “canon against absurdities.” Both the majority and the concurrence in part reject Stines’s resort to that canon. And rightfully so, because, as noted in the concurrencein part, proper application of that canon is limited to a truly exceptional case. See Small v. United States , 544 U.S. 385, 404 (2005) (Thomas, J., dissenting) (the canon again st absurdities “ should [ be ] employ [ed] only .

. . where it is quite impossible that Congress could have intended the result

. . . and where the alleged absurdity is so clear as to be obvious to most anyone” (quotation omitted)). Neither the majority’s nor the concurrence in part’s read of USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 22 of 2320

- 11035 L AGOA , J., Concurring 3

section 2M5.2(a)(2) comes anywhere close to implicating that canon of construction. Based on the Guideline’s text, including its references to the United States Munitions List , and our decision in U nited States v. Fu Ch in Chung , 931 F.2d 43, 46 (11th Cir. 1991), I agree with the majority opinion’s interpretation of § 2M5.2(a)(2)

. USCA11 Case: 20-11035 Date Filed: 05/31/2022 Page: 23 of 23