Opinion ID: 199640
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Federal Statutes.

Text: 20 The case at bar involves two interrelated federal statutes. The grand jury indicted the appellant under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9), quoted supra note 1, and the incorporated term misdemeanor crime of domestic violence is defined elsewhere as: 21 an offense that -- 22 (i) is a misdemeanor under Federal or State law; and 23 (ii) has, as an element, the use or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon, committed by a current or former spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a person who is cohabiting with or has cohabited with the victim as a spouse, parent, or guardian, or by a person similarly situated to a spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim. 24 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(33)(A). Reading these statutes together, the proscriptions contained in section 922(g)(9) extend to any person who has been convicted under state law of a misdemeanor crime that (1) contains as an element the use or attempted use of physical force and (2) involves an enumerated relationship status between perpetrator and victim. We previously have held, and today reaffirm, that the use or attempted use of physical force constitutes an essential, and formal, element of a section 922(g)(9) predicate offense. See Meade, 175 F.3d at 218-21. Thus, the case at bar requires us to determine whether Congress, by codifying physical force as a formal element of such predicate offenses, intended to reach misdemeanants convicted under either branch of Maine's general-purpose assault statute. 25 To resolve this issue, we turn to time-honored principles of statutory construction. Where statutory interpretation is in prospect, the jumping-off point always is the text of the statute itself. United States v. James, 478 U.S. 597, 604 106 S.Ct. 311692 L.Ed.2d 483(1986); United States v. Charles George Trucking Co., 823 F.2d 685, 688 (1st Cir. 1987). In scrutinizing the language, we presume, absent evidence to the contrary, that Congress knew and adopted the widely accepted legal definitions of meanings associated with the specific words enshrined in the statute. Morissette v. United States, 342 U.S. 246, 263 (1952); United Techs. Corp. v. Browning-Ferris Indus., 33 F.3d 96, 99 (1st Cir. 1994). Predictably, we turn to Black's Law Dictionary to glean the most widely accepted legal meaning of physical force. 26 This venerable reference work defines physical force as force consisting in a physical act. Black's Law Dict. (7th ed. 1999) (cross-referencing the definition of actual force). The word force means [p]ower, violence, or pressure directed against a person or thing. Id. The word physical, although not separately defined in Black's, has a corporeal aspect. See American Heritage Dict. of the Eng. Language (4th ed. 2000) (defining physical as of or relating to the body as distinguished from the mind or spirit); Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dict. (1989) (defining physical as of or relating to the body). Synthesizing the various definitions, physical force may be characterized as power, violence, or pressure directed against another person's body. 27 If statutory language points to a plain and unambiguous meaning, courts are bound to follow that signpost -- at least as long as that revealed meaning is neither unreasonable nor absurd. Salinas v. United States, 522 U.S. 52, 57-58 (1997); Charles George Trucking, 823 F.2d at 688. In the context of section 921(a)(33)(A), the phrase use or attempted use of physical force falls into this category. Physical force is an elementary concept, readily understood. And from a policy perspective, proscribing gun possession by individuals convicted of misdemeanor crimes characterized by the application of physical force advances Congress's evident purpose -- curbing the escalating societal problems associated with domestic violence. Meade, 175 F.3d at 217. 28 Since the straightforward employment of the term physical force in section 921(a)(33)(A) produces an entirely plausible result, we are not obligated to consult other aids to statutory construction. Salinas, 522 U.S. at 57-58; Meade, 175 F.3d at 219. We nonetheless mention two additional facts that confirm the absence of any congressional intent either to engraft a bodily injury requirement onto section 921(a)(33)(A) or otherwise to inspire a grudging construction of the words physical force as used in that statute. 29 The subsection immediately preceding 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9) precludes the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force . . . that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8)(C)(ii). This qualifying clause limits the reach of section 922(g)(8) to a specific subset of physical force: physical force that is reasonably expected to generate physical injury. Following the settled rule that a statute must, if possible, be construed in such fashion that every word has some operative effect, United States v. Nordic Vill., Inc., 503 U.S. 30, 36 (1992), the modifying clause in section 922(g)(8) cannot be dismissed as mere surplusage. This means that we must read the unqualified use of the term physical force in section 922(g)(9) as a clear signal of Congress's intent that section 922(g)(9) encompass misdemeanor crimes involving all types of physical force, regardless of whether they could reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury. After all, when Congress inserts limiting language in one section of a statute but abjures that language in another, closely related section, the usual presumption is that Congress acted deliberately and purposefully in the disparate omission. Duncan v. Walker, 121 S. Ct. 2120, 2124-25 (2001); Russello v. United States, 464 U.S. 16, 23 (1983). 30 The legislative history of section 922(g)(9) further suggests that Congress did not intend to import an injury requirement into section 922(g)(9). On this point, we find particularly instructive the comments of Senator Lautenberg (the statute's principal architect). Discussing section 922(g)(9) on the Senate floor shortly before its passage, Senator Lautenberg observed: 31 [T]he revised language includes a new definition of the crimes for which the gun ban will be imposed. Under the original version, these were defined as crimes of violence against certain individuals, essentially family members. Some argued that the term crime of violence was too broad, and could be interpreted to include an act such as cutting up a credit card with a pair of scissors. Although this concern seemed far-fetched to me, I did agree to a new definition of covered crimes that is more precise, and probably broader. 32 Under the final agreement, the ban applies to crimes that have, as an element, the use or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon. This is an improvement over the earlier version, which did not explicitly include within the ban crimes involving an attempt to use force, or the threatened use of a weapon, if such an attempt or threat did not also involve actual physical violence. 33 142 Cong. Rec. S11,877 (1996) (statement of Sen. Lautenberg). 34 While the remarks of the chief sponsor of a bill by no means control a court's construal of the enacted statute, they nonetheless can provide reliable insights into its construction. N. Haven Bd. of Educ. v. Bell, 456 U.S. 512, 526-27 (1982); Meade, 175 F.3d at 219. Here, the specificity of the comments, precisely directed toward the intended meaning of the statute's mode of aggression component, lends substantial credence to them. See Regan v. Wald, 468 U.S. 222, 237 (1984). We conclude, therefore, that Senator Lautenberg's statements, which plainly indicate that a principal purpose underlying Congress's substitution of crimes involving the use or attempted use of physical force for crimes of violence in section 922(g)(9) was to broaden the spectrum of predicate offenses covered by the statute, are worthy of respect. 35 In context, these insights are quite helpful. A comparison of the plain meanings of crimes of violence and physical force highlights the consonance between the purpose and effect of the revised language. Violence is essentially a subset of physical force involving injury or risk of harm. See Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dict. (1989) (defining violence as the exertion of physical force so as to injure or abuse); see also 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B)(ii) (defining violent felony to include crimes involving conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another). The substitution of physical force as the operative mode of aggression element effectively expanded the coverage of section 922(g)(9) to include predicate offenses whose formal statutory definitions contemplated the use of any physical force, regardless of whether that force resulted in bodily injury or risk of harm. 36 To summarize, the usual and customary meaning of the phrase physical force persuades us that Congress intended section 922(g)(9) to encompass crimes characterized by the application of any physical force. The additional signposts point unerringly in the same direction. Accordingly, we use this as the operative definition. 37