Opinion ID: 765595
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: It shall be unlawful for any person

Text: 87 (3) other than a licensee or permittee knowingly 88 (A) to transport, ship, cause to be transported, or receive in interstate or foreign commerce any explosive materials . . . . 89 Fiorillo would read knowingly in this statute to modify the words that precede it. Under Fiorillo's interpretation the meaning of the statute would be, it shall be unlawful for any person who knows they do not have a license knowingly to transport, ship, cause to be transported, or receive. . . explosive materials. The district court read knowingly to apply to the words that follow it. This court reviews a district court's interpretation of a statute de novo. Doe, 136 F.3d at 634. 90 We look first to the plain language of the statute. Sloan v. West, 140 F.3d 1255, 1261 (9th Cir. 1998). It stretches credulity to apply Fiorillo's interpretation to the statute. 32 Clearly, knowingly applies to the words that follow it: transport, ship, cause to be transported, receive. The statute requires the Government to prove that the recipient of the explosives did not have a license or permit, not that the recipient knew he did not have a permit. 33