Opinion ID: 3033428
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Structural Context and Legislative History

Text: [5] Although we find the plain language of the Guideline unambiguous, we look to the structural context and legislative history of § 2K2.1(b)(4) for clues that another meaning of the phrase “altered or obliterated”—other than its ordinary meaning—was intended. We find no evidence suggesting that to be the case. The Sentencing Guidelines were promulgated by the U.S. Sentencing Commission in 1987. Commentary accompanying the 1987 version of § 2K2.1 points to “Statutory Provisions” 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(6), (g), and (h), which criminalize various firearms offenses. U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1, comment. (statutory provisions) (Nov. 1987). In 1989, these statutory references were amended to include, inter alia, 18 U.S.C. § 922(k). U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1, comment. (statutory provisions) (Nov. 1989). Section 922(k) criminalizes the knowing possession of “any firearm which has had the . . . serial number removed, obliterated, or altered.” 18 U.S.C. § 922(k) (2004). Although the original version of the Guidelines contains the phrase “altered or obliterated” without reference to § 922(k), that it was shortly amended to reference a code section criminalizing the same conduct suggests that the “altered or obliterated” language in § 2K2.1(b)(4) perhaps is derived from the “removed, obliterated, or altered” language in § 922(k). Lacking a fuller legislative history of § 2K2.1(b)(4) itself, we thus examine the evolution of § 922(k) for hints to the source of these words. The lineage of § 922(k) dates back to the Federal Firearms Act of 1938, which made it unlawful to “knowingly receive . . . any firearm from which the . . . serial number has been removed, obliterated, or altered.” Pub. L. No. 75-785, 52 Stat. 1250. That act did not define the words “removed, obliterated, or altered,” see id. § 1, and legislative history is unavailable for that period. The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 moved this provision, in substance, from Title 15 to Title 18 UNITED STATES v. CARTER 11483 of the United States Code. Pub. L. No. 90-351, 82 Stat. 197 (providing for codification at 18 U.S.C. § 922(i)). Like its precursor, it did not define the words “removed, obliterated, or altered.” See id. § 902. Legislative history indicates that the principal purpose of Title IV of the omnibus bill, under which § 922(i) fell, was “to aid in making it possible to keep firearms out of the hands of those not legally entitled to possess them because of age, criminal background, or incompetency, and to assist law enforcement authorities in the States and their subdivisions in combating the increasing prevalence of crime in the United States.” S. Rep. No. 90-1097 (1968), reprinted in 1968 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2112, 2113-14. The same report also expresses concern about the in-state use of firearms obtained in other states, and cites statistics tracking the movement of firearms among neighboring states. Id. at 216465. Within months, the Gun Control Act of 1968 expanded the provisions of the omnibus bill, which covered only handguns, to additionally include rifles and shotguns. H. Rep. No. 901577 (1968), reprinted in 1968 U.S.C.C.A.N. 4410, 4413. It did not define the words “removed, obliterated, or altered,” and—as relevant for our purposes—simply redesignated subsection (i) as subsection (k), where it remains today. Pub. L. 90-618, 82 Stat. 1213 (1968) (codified as amended at 18 U.S.C. § 922(k) (2004)). Thus, the legislative history of Guideline § 2K2.1 suggests that the words “altered or obliterated” likely are derived from what is today 18 U.S.C. § 922(k), but no statutory progenitor of § 922(k) at any point defines these words. Legislative history, then, is helpful only in casting light on the general purpose for the statutory provisions cited in the commentary to § 2K2.1; it does not specify why § 2K2.1(b)(4) was enacted or why the phrase “altered or obliterated” was chosen.