Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 184.0

524US1

Unit: $U79

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Cite as: 524 U. S. 125 (1998)

139

Ginsburg, J., dissenting

clude that there is a “ ‘ “grievous ambiguity or uncertainty” ’
in the statute.” Staples v. United States, 511 U. S. 600, 619,
n. 17 (1994) (quoting Chapman v. United States, 500 U. S.
453, 463 (1991)). Certainly, our decision today is based on
much more than a “guess as to what Congress intended,”
and there is no “grievous ambiguity” here. The problem of
statutory interpretation in these cases is indeed no different
from that in many of the criminal cases that confront us.
Yet, this Court has never held that the rule of lenity auto-
matically permits a defendant to win.

In sum, the “generally accepted contemporary meaning”
of the word “carry” includes the carrying of a ﬁrearm in a
vehicle. The purpose of this statute warrants its application
in such circumstances. The limiting phrase “during and in
relation to” should prevent misuse of the statute to penalize
those whose conduct does not create the risks of harm at
which the statute aims.

For these reasons, we conclude that petitioners’ conduct
falls within the scope of the phrase “carries a ﬁrearm.” The
judgments of the Courts of Appeals are afﬁrmed.

It is so ordered.

Justice Ginsburg, with whom The Chief Justice,

Justice Scalia, and Justice Souter join, dissenting.
Section 924(c)(1) of Title 18, United States Code,

is a
punishment-enhancing provision;
it imposes a mandatory
ﬁve-year prison term when the defendant “during and in re-
lation to any crime of violence or drug trafﬁcking . . . uses
or carries a ﬁrearm.”
In Bailey v. United States, 516 U. S.
137 (1995), this Court held that the term “uses,” in the con-
text of § 924(c)(1), means “active employment” of the ﬁrearm.
In today’s cases we confront a related question: What does
the term “carries” mean in the context of § 924(c)(1), the en-
hanced punishment prescription again at issue.

It is uncontested that § 924(c)(1) applies when the defend-
ant bears a ﬁrearm, i. e., carries the weapon on or about his