Opinion ID: 470394
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Time allowed for placing a serial number on a firearm

Text: 28 and possession of a firearm not bearing a serial number. 29 Appellants contend that the trial court erred by not instructing the jury as follows: 30 If you find that there has not been a lapse of reasonable time between the manufacture of the firearm and the time that the firearm was seized, you should find the defendant not guilty of [possessing] firearms that do not have serial numbers. 31 Record vol. IV at 225. Such an instruction is not an accurate statement of the law; consequently, the trial court was correct in declining to so instruct. 32 It is unlawful to possess or receive a firearm which is not identified by a serial number. 26 U.S.C. Sec. 5861(i). Those who manufacture, import or possess firearms must identify them with a serial number and certain other information. 26 U.S.C. Sec. 5842(a) & (b). 7 An applicable Treasury regulation requires each manufacturer or importer to legibly identify each firearm by engraving, casting, stamping, impressing or otherwise conspicuously identifying the following information on the firearm: an individual serial number; the model, if such designation has been made; the caliber or gauge; the name of the manufacturer or importer and its place of business; and, in the case of an imported firearm, the country of manufacture. 27 C.F.R. Sec. 179.102. 33 Another Treasury regulation concerns the registration of firearms which are manufactured. It provides that each manufacturer must file with the BATF director an accurate notice on Form 2, Notice of Firearms Manufactured or Imported, to show his manufacture of firearms. 27 C.F.R. Sec. 179.03. The notice must set forth the following information: the name and address of the manufacturer, his tax stamp and number and his federal firearms license number. Id. It must also show the date of manufacture, the type, model, length of barrel, overall length, caliber, gauge or size, serial numbers and other marks of identification of the firearms manufactured. Id. 34 This Treasury regulation is specific as to when Form 2 must be filed: 35 All firearms manufactured by him during a single day shall be included on one notice, Form 2 (Firearms), filed by the manufacturer no later than the close of the next business day. The manufacturer shall prepare the notice, Form 2 (Firearms), in duplicate, file the original notice as prescribed herein and keep the copy with the records required by Subpart I of this part at the premises covered by his special (occupational) tax stamp. Receipt of the notice, Form 2 (Firearms) by the Director shall effectuate the registration of the firearms listed on that notice. 36 27 C.F.R. Sec. 179.103. A fair reading of the above Treasury regulation leads to the conclusion that before a Form 2 can be filed and before a firearm can be registered, a manufacturer must have placed a serial number on the firearm. This serial number is then reported on Form 2. 37 Appellants contend that because the Treasury regulation allows a Form 2 to be filed no later than the close of the next business day after manufacture, a serial number may be placed on the firearm within that time and satisfy the requirement of 26 U.S.C. Sec. 5842(a) that a firearm be serialized. Under appellants' theory, a manufacturer could possess an unserialized firearm subsequent to manufacture but before the close of the next business day and not violate 26 U.S.C. Sec. 5861(i). 38 We reject this theory and hold that a manufacturer must place a serial number on a firearm prior to or immediately upon completion of the firearm. 8 The registration procedure for manufactured firearms contained in the Treasury regulation does not provide additional time within which to place a serial number on a firearm. Likewise, the Treasury regulation dealing with the registration of imported firearms, which provides that a Form 2 must be filed not later than fifteen days from the date the firearm is released from Customs custody, does not provide additional time within which to place a serial number on an imported firearm. 27 C.F.R. Sec. 179.112. 39 In United States v. Ranney, 524 F.2d 830 (7th Cir.1975), cert. denied, 424 U.S. 922, 96 S.Ct. 1130, 47 L.Ed.2d 330 (1976), defendant was convicted of possessing a shotgun without a serial number in violation of 26 U.S.C. Sec. 5861(i). On appeal, one of defendant's arguments was that the law afforded him a reasonable period of time to obtain a serial number because 26 U.S.C. Sec. 5842(b) provides that a person who possesses a firearm without a serial number shall identify it with an assigned serial number. Appellants in this case make the same argument. In rejecting it, the Seventh Circuit noted that Sec. 5861(i) proscribed not only the possession of a firearm without a serial number, but also its very receipt. The court was unwilling to read the National Firearms Act in such a way that there could be a period of lawful possession of such a firearm, yet the act of receiving the firearm would be unlawful. Ranney, 524 F.2d at 833. Such a reading would conflict with the clear language of Sec. 5861(i) which prohibits the possession of a firearm not identified with a serial number. 40 Appellants attempt to distinguish Ranney claiming that the facts of this case are significantly different. Appellant Walsh testified at trial that he assembled the two unserialized suppressors on April 27, 1983, although he initially told the BATF agent that they had been manufactured two days earlier. Record vol. IV at 212, 147. He had expected to receive all the components to assemble the suppressors by April 17th. Id. at 187. In anticipation, he prepared the Form 2 on April 17th, assigning serial numbers to the then unmanufactured suppressors. Id. at 189, 199, 204. The date of manufacture was listed as April 17th and the form was filed with the BATF on April 26th. Record vol. III at 76, 103; vol. IV at 150, 207. Thus, the Form 2 was dated and filed before the suppressors were even manufactured on April 27th. Appellant Walsh explained that he did not have time to serialize the two suppressors before leaving to attend a defense conference in Las Vegas and that he had taken appropriate tools with him so that he could mark the serial numbers on the suppressors once he arrived in Las Vegas. 41 Appellants suggest that Ranney should not apply because the defendant in that case traded the shotgun he had obtained without a serial number to undercover agents, whereas appellant Walsh was not trying to sell or transfer the suppressors; rather, until the briefcase was lost, he had actual or constructive possession of the suppressors from the time of manufacture. Appellants also suggest that the shotgun in Ranney was not registered, whereas appellant Walsh had filed the registration documents covering the suppressors. 42 These are distinctions that do not make a difference. We agree with the rationale of Ranney and find it fully applicable. The defendant in that case was convicted of possession of a firearm not identified by a serial number just as appellants were. The Seventh Circuit's decision did not turn on prior or subsequent transfers of the firearm, rather it was the act of possession that was dispositive. And merely because a recently manufactured firearm has been registered would not obviate the requirement that it be identified by a serial number which may not be readily removed, obliterated or altered. 26 U.S.C. Sec. 5842(a). 9 43 Appellants next turn the court's attention to two predecessor statutes involving firearms. One required a manufacturer or importer to place an identifying number or mark on a firearm. The other statute made it unlawful to obliterate, remove, change or alter such an identifying number or mark, and provided that possession of such a firearm was sufficient evidence to authorize conviction unless the defendant explains his possession to the satisfaction of the jury. Act of Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736 (former Secs. 5843 & 5852 of tit. 26), 68A Stat. 725, 728, amended by, Act of Sept. 2, 1958, tit. II, Sec. 203(e), 72 Stat. 1427, repealed by, Act of Oct. 22, 1968, tit. II, Sec. 201, 82 Stat. 1230, 1233; see also Sizemore v. United States, 393 F.2d 656, 658 n. 1 (8th Cir.1968) (a defendant had a reasonable period of time between finding and seizure of an unregistered firearm to register it under a prior registration statute which provided that possession of an unregistered firearm was sufficient evidence to authorize conviction unless defendant explains such possession to the satisfaction of the jury (dicta)); Haynes v. United States, 372 F.2d 651 (5th Cir.1967), rev'd, 390 U.S. 85, 88 S.Ct. 722, 19 L.Ed.2d 923 (1968). 44 Appellants' reliance on the predecessor statute allowing for a satisfactory explanation of possession is unpersuasive for several reasons. First, Sec. 5861(i) deals expressly with the receipt or possession of a firearm which is not identified by a serial number; that predecessor statute concerns the obliteration, removal, change or alteration of serial numbers or identifying marks which is now proscribed by 26 U.S.C. Sec. 5861(h). Second, there simply is nothing in Sec. 5861(i) which suggests that a satisfactory explanation of possession was meant to be statutory defense. That part of the predecessor statute allowing for an explanation of possession is conspicuously absent from Sec. 5861. United States v. Parker, 566 F.2d 1304, 1306 n. 3. (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 956, 98 S.Ct. 1589, 55 L.Ed.2d 808 (1978). 45 Finally, appellants contend that Sec. 5861(i) should not be applied to them in this instance because to do so would place an undue or unnecessary federal restriction on legitimate manufacturers. 10 As the Supreme Court has observed, the National Firearms Act as amended in 1968 is a regulatory measure in the interest of public safety. United States v. Freed, 401 U.S. 601, 609, 91 S.Ct. 1112, 1118, 28 L.Ed.2d 356 (1971); see also H.R.Rep. No. 1956, 90th Cong., 2d Sess. (1968), reprinted in, 1968 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 4410, 4426, 4434-35 (scope of National Firearms Act extended and penalties for violation increased). Accordingly, there need not be a showing of specific intent or knowledge that a firearm is unregistered or without a serial number. United States v. Freed, 401 U.S. at 607, 91 S.Ct. at 1117; United States v. Ranney, 524 F.2d 830, 832. A serial number allows a firearm to be traced. Appellant Walsh testified that the average time it took him to stamp a firearm with a serial number was ten or fifteen minutes. Record vol. IV at 185. The suppressors were manufactured in Washington, D.C. and were lost in Salt Lake City, at least temporarily. There was a real possibility that the suppressors could have found there way into circulation before they had been serialized. Under these circumstances, this application of the statute does not appear to be an undue or unnecessary federal restriction. 46 Appellants' proposed jury instruction rests on two assumptions: 1) that a defendant charged with a violation of Sec. 5861(i) who admits the proscribed possession of a firearm without a serial number may offer an explanation of such possession to the jury, and 2) that a defendant who is a manufacturer has a reasonable amount of time subsequent to manufacture or assembly during which he may physically place a serial number on a firearm. We have rejected both propositions. Denial of a requested instruction which is either wholly or partially incorrect is not error. United States v. Stoddart, 574 F.2d 1050, 1053 (10th Cir.1978); McCarty v. United States, 409 F.2d 793, 798-99 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 836, 90 S.Ct. 95, 24 L.Ed.2d 87 (1969). Consistent with the above, appellants' motion for judgment of acquittal was properly denied by the district court. 47 AFFIRMED.