Opinion ID: 172652
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Stolen Firearm Adjustment

Text: Mr. Blackbourn first contends that application of § 2K2.1(b)(4)(A), which provides for a two-level enhancement to the base offense level “[i]f any firearm . . . was stolen,” constitutes impermissible double counting because his offense of conviction was possession of a stolen firearm. Mr. Blackbourn’s offense of conviction makes it illegal for any person to “receive, possess, conceal, store, barter, sell, or dispose of any stolen firearm . . . , knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the firearm . . . was stolen.” 18 U.S.C. § 922(j). Mr. Blackbourn misconceives the relationship between the Sentencing Guidelines and the criminal code when he argues that the stolen-firearm enhancement constitutes double counting because possession of a stolen weapon is an element of his § 922(j) offense of conviction. Sentencing courts apply USSG § 2K2.1 to a number of firearm offenses, some involving stolen firearms, some not. Section 2K2.1(b)(4)(A) is the provision that distinguishes between offenses involving stolen firearms and those that do not. Application of that provision does not involve double counting of the fact that Mr. Blackbourn’s offense was possession of stolen firearms; on the contrary, application of -4- § 2K2.1(b)(4)(A) is the means by which the guidelines calculation takes into account the stolen-firearm element of his offense in the first instance. To be sure, §2K2.1(b)(4)(A) is not the only means by which § 2K2.1 takes into account the stolen-firearm element of a firearms offense. Application note 8 for § 2K2.1(b)(4) recognizes that in some circumstances when the base offense level is determined by § 2K2.1(a)(7), that provision implicitly takes into account that the firearm was stolen, and therefore § 2K2.1(b)(4)(A) does not apply. 1 But Mr. Blackbourn’s offense level was not determined by using § 2K2.1(a)(7). In United States v. Goff, 314 F.3d 1248, 1249–50 (10th Cir. 2003), we held that if the offense of conviction is possession of a stolen firearm, in violation of § 922(j), the application of § 2K2.1(b)(4) is proper so long as the defendant’s base offense level is not determined under § 2K2.1(a)(7). We reasoned that application note 8 (then numbered as note 12) “explicitly applies only to those defendants whose base offense level is determined pursuant to § 2K2.1(a)(7)” and it makes no such exception for defendants whose base offense level is determined 1 The application note states: If the only offense to which § 2K2.1 applies is 18 U.S.C. § 922(i), (j), or (u) or 18 U.S.C. § 924(l) or (m) (offenses involving a stolen firearm or stolen ammunition) and the base offense level is determined under subsection (a)(7), do not apply the enhancement in subsection (b)(4)(A). This is because the base offense level takes into account that the firearm or ammunition was stolen. U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2K2.1, cmt. n.8(A) (2007). -5- by a different subsection. Id. at 1250. Accordingly, the district court’s imposition of the two-level enhancement under § 2K2.1(b)(4) was correct.