Opinion ID: 3033428
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Judicial Interpretations of Purpose

Text: [6] Though we have not before had occasion to construe the phrase “altered or obliterated” as used in § 2K2.1(b)(4), the 11484 UNITED STATES v. CARTER Ninth Circuit has previously commented on, but not fully analyzed, the purpose of that section. In United States v. Seesing, 234 F.3d 456, 460 (9th Cir. 2001), we observed that § 2K2.1(b)(4) intends to “discourag[e] the use of untraceable weaponry.” As we shall explain, applying the enhancement to Carter on the facts presented here remains wholly consistent with this purpose.
The defendant in Seesing pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered firearm and possession of a homemade silencer not identified by serial number. Id.; 26 U.S.C. §§ 5841, 5861(d), (i). At sentencing, the district court imposed a twolevel enhancement under § 2K2.1(b)(4) because the silencer lacked a serial number. On appeal, we reversed, holding that because the homemade silencer never had a serial number in the first place, it plainly could not have been altered or obliterated. Seesing, 234 F.3d at 460. We observed that “while we understand the district court’s desire to respect the underlying purpose of Guidelines § 2K2.1(b)(4), discouraging the use of untraceable weaponry, and agree that this purpose is frustrated by the use of homemade silencers without serial numbers, the plain language of the Guideline is clear.” Id. [7] Emphasizing our use in Seesing of the word “untraceable” to describe the purpose of § 2K2.1(b)(4), Carter argues that, to preserve legislative intent, the enhancement should not apply when a firearm’s serial number remains traceable, if only via microscopy. This argument, however, misapprehends our comments in Seesing about § 2K2.1(b)(4)’s purpose. We did not say in Seesing that § 2K2.1(b)(4) intends to punish only those who possess weapons that are “untraceable” by any means; we said, more broadly, that it intends to “discourag[e] the use of untraceable weaponry.” Id. This purpose is advanced not only by punishing those who possess untraceable firearms, but also by punishing those who possess fireUNITED STATES v. CARTER 11485 arms that are more difficult, though not impossible, to trace because their serial numbers have been defaced. As this case aptly demonstrates, it may be difficult to determine, from a visual inspection alone, whether a serial number that appears defaced is, in fact, untraceable when scientific means are employed. On the street, where these guns often trade and where microscopy is rarely available, one cannot readily distinguish between a serial number that merely looks untraceable and one that actually is. At that level, it is appearances that count: A gun possessor is likely to be able to determine only whether or not his firearm appears more difficult, or impossible, to trace.2 By prescribing enhanced sentences for possessors of firearms with “altered or obliterated” serial numbers, § 2K2.1(b)(4) encourages those who deal in firearms to inspect such weapons and to refuse to handle those with defaced serial numbers. Yet if, as here, a defendant cannot visually distinguish—at the moment he contemplates taking possession—a would-be untraceable firearm from one that is in fact untraceable, it makes little sense for him to be punished in the latter circumstance but to escape punishment in the former. Such an outcome might well encourage, not discourage, the use of untraceable weaponry, for it would signal that although a firearm’s serial number has been materially damaged—and thus will visit upon the government the myriad costs of extraordinary tracing measures—its possession 2 We are mindful, of course, that § 2K2.1(b)(4) “applies whether or not the defendant knew or had reason to believe that the firearm . . . had an altered or obliterated serial number.” U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1, comment. (n.19) (Nov. 2002). That fact does not affect our analysis here. We may presume that a defendant has knowledge of the enhancement, and that such knowledge provides him an incentive to adjust his behavior accordingly; we need not speculate as to the Sentencing Commission’s possible reasons for instructing that the enhancement applies without regard to the defendant’s mental state. 11486 UNITED STATES v. CARTER occasions no additional punishment, so long as the firearm ultimately remains traceable. [8] Because such an interpretation is at odds with § 2K2.1(b)(4)’s purpose to discourage the use of untraceable weaponry, we decline to adopt it. Rather, as we view it, this enhancement, by punishing possession of weapons that appear more difficult to trace, necessarily deters traffic in weapons that are impossible to trace. We conclude, therefore, as we did in Seesing, that the plain language of § 2K2.1(b)(4) controls. We note, in addition, that our interpretation of this plain language remains consistent with § 2K2.1(b)(4)’s purpose as we previously described it in Seesing.
[9] Our conclusion is buttressed by the First Circuit’s recent construction of the word “altered” in United States v. Adams, 305 F.3d 30 (1st Cir. 2002), a case with similar facts, but which interpreted 18 U.S.C. § 922(k) rather than Guideline § 2K2.1(b)(4). The defendant in Adams, a convicted felon who admitted attempting to scratch out the serial number on a pistol he owned, was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and of possessing a firearm with an “altered” serial number. Id. at 33; 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), (k). At trial, the district court charged the jury that “to alter” was “to make some change in the appearance of the serial number.” Adams, 305 F.3d at 30. On appeal, the defendant argued that this instruction was in error, and contended that a “material alteration . . . rendering the weapon difficult or impossible to trace” was necessary to justify a conviction. Id. at 34. The Adams court, reading “altered” in its statutory context beside the words “removed” and “obliterated,” first noted that § 922(k) “aims to punish one who possesses a firearm whose principal means of tracing origin and transfers in ownership— its serial number—has been deleted or made appreciably more difficult to make out.” Id. It further observed that “nothing in UNITED STATES v. CARTER 11487 [the] language or purpose suggests that the alteration must make tracing impossible or extraordinarily difficult.” Id. Because “alter” is not an “obscure or special-purpose term,” the Adams court concluded that it was enough to charge the jury in the words of the statute, allowing common sense to be their guide, holding that “any change that makes the serial number appreciably more difficult to discern should be enough.” Id. Since the serial number on the defendant’s pistol had been abraded such that four of the six digits were “significantly more difficult to read,” it upheld the defendant’s conviction, noting that “[o]nly by reading the term ‘alter’ to mean ‘obliterate’ or ‘make impossible to interpret’ could we find the evidence insufficient.” Id. at 35. [10] Thus the First Circuit in Adams found that § 922(k)’s purpose—to punish possessors of firearms whose serial numbers have been “deleted or made appreciably more difficult to make out”—comported with the ordinary meaning of the words used in that statute. Id. at 34. Finding ourselves confronted by a related provision and analogous factual circumstances, we find the reasoning of the Adams court persuasive and adopt it here. Like the Adams court found in the context of § 922(k), we find that nothing in the language or purpose of Guideline § 2K2.1(b)(4) suggests that the defacement must make tracing impossible or extraordinarily difficult for the enhancement to apply. See id.