Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/13-7120_p86b.pdf
Page Number: 56.0

Cite as:  576 U. S. ____ (2015) 

19 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

except a law officer should have a . . . sawed-off shotgun.” 
H. R.  Rep.  No. 1780,  73d  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  1  (1934).    As 
amended, the Act imposes strict registration requirements 
for  any  individual  wishing  to  possess  a  covered  shotgun, 
see,  e.g.,  §§5822,  5841(b),  and  illegal  possession  of  such  a 
weapon is punishable by imprisonment for up to 10 years.
See  §§5861(b)–(d),  5871.    It  is  telling  that  this  penalty
exceeds  that  prescribed  by  federal  law  for  quintessential
violent  felonies.10    It  thus  seems  perfectly  clear  that  Con­
gress has long regarded the illegal possession of a sawed-
off shotgun as a crime that poses a serious risk of harm to 
others. 

The majority of States agree.  The Government informs 
the  Court,  and  Johnson  does  not  dispute,  that  28  States
have  followed  Congress’  lead  by  making  it  a  crime  to
possess  an  unregistered  sawed-off  shotgun,  and  11  other 
States  and  the  District  of  Columbia  prohibit  private  pos­
session  of  sawed-off  shotguns  entirely.    See  Brief  for 
United States 8–9 (collecting statutes).  Minnesota, where 
petitioner was convicted, has adopted a blanket ban, based 
on  its  judgment  that  “[t]he  sawed-off  shotgun  has  no 
legitimate  use  in  the  society  whatsoever.”  State  v.  Ellen-
berger, 543 N. W. 2d 673, 676 (Minn. App. 1996) (internal 
quotation  marks  and  citation  omitted).    Possession  of  a 
sawed-off  shotgun  in  Minnesota  is  thus  an  inherently 
criminal  act.  It  is  fanciful  to  assume  that  a  person  who 
chooses  to  break  the  law  and  risk  the  heavy  criminal 
penalty  incurred  by  possessing  a  notoriously  dangerous 

—————— 

10 See,  e.g.,  18  U.  S.  C.  §111(a)  (physical  assault  on  federal  officer 
punishable  by  not  more  than  eight  years’  imprisonment);  §113(a)(7)
(assault within maritime or territorial jurisdiction resulting in substan­
tial bodily injury to an individual under the age of 16 punishable by up
to five years’ imprisonment); §117(a) (“assault, sexual abuse, or serious
violent  felony  against  a  spouse  or  intimate  partner”  by  a  habitual
offender within maritime or territorial jurisdiction punishable by up to
five years’ imprisonment, except in cases of “substantial bodily injury”).