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524us1$82I

02-22-99 22:42:40 PAGES OPINPGT

Cite as: 524 U. S. 184 (1998)

187

Opinion of the Court

to include detailed provisions regulating the use and sale
of ﬁrearms. As amended, 18 U. S. C. § 922 deﬁned a num-
ber of “unlawful acts”; subsection (a)(1) made it unlawful for
any person except a licensed dealer to engage in the business
of dealing in ﬁrearms.2 Section 923 established the federal
licensing program and repeated the prohibition against deal-
ing in ﬁrearms without a license, and § 924 speciﬁed the pen-
alties for violating “any provision of this chapter.” Read
literally, § 924 authorized the imposition of a ﬁne of up to
$5,000 or a prison sentence of not more than ﬁve years, “or
both,” on any person who dealt in ﬁrearms without a license
even if that person believed that he or she was acting law-
fully.3 As enacted in 1968, §§ 922(a)(1) and 924 omitted an
express scienter requirement and therefore arguably im-
posed strict criminal liability on every unlicensed dealer in
ﬁrearms. The 1968 Act also omitted any deﬁnition of the
term “engaged in the business” even though that conduct
was an element of the unlawful act prohibited by § 922(a)(1).
In 1986 Congress enacted the Firearms Owners’ Protec-
tion Act (FOPA), in part, to cure these omissions. The ﬁnd-
ings in that statute explained that additional legislation was
necessary to protect law-abiding citizens with respect to the
acquisition, possession, or use of ﬁrearms for lawful pur-

problem be properly dealt with, and effective State and local regulation
of this trafﬁc be made possible . . . .”

82 Stat. 225.

2 82 Stat. 228. The current version of this provision, which is substan-
tially the same as the 1968 version, is codiﬁed at 18 U. S. C. § 922(a)(1)(A).
It states:

“(a) It shall be unlawful—
“(1) for any person—
“(A) except a licensed importer,

licensed manufacturer, or licensed
dealer, to engage in the business of importing, manufacturing, or dealing
in ﬁrearms, or in the course of such business to ship, transport, or receive
any ﬁrearm in interstate or foreign commerce.”

3 “§ 924. Penalties
“(a) Whoever violates any provision of this chapter . . . shall be ﬁned
not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than ﬁve years, or both.”
82 Stat. 233.