Court Opinion

ID: 991210
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-03 23:33:21.533462+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:39:49.353271
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.                                                                      No. 96-4491

ANTHONY LEE GRANT,
Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of North Carolina, at Winston-Salem.
William L. Osteen, Sr., James A. Beaty, Jr., District Judges.
(CR-95-221)

Submitted: December 19, 1996

Decided: January 6, 1997

Before ERVIN and MOTZ, Circuit Judges, and BUTZNER,
Senior Circuit Judge.

_________________________________________________________________

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNSEL

William E. Martin, Federal Public Defender, Eric D. Placke, Assistant
Federal Public Defender, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellant.
Walter C. Holton, Jr., United States Attorney, Clifton T. Barrett,
Assistant United States Attorney, Greensboro, North Carolina, for
Appellee.

_________________________________________________________________
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See
Local Rule 36(c).

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Anthony Lee Grant pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession
of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 922(g)(1) (West Supp.
1996). Grant was sentenced to 219 months in prison, to be followed
by five years of supervised release. He appeals, asserting that Con-
gress exceeded its powers under the Commerce Clause in enacting
§ 922(g)(1). We affirm.

In 1991 Grant was convicted in a North Carolina state court of pos-
session with intent to sell and distribute marijuana, a felony. He was
charged with possessing a Raven Arms .25 caliber pistol on January
15, 1995, in Forsyth County, North Carolina. That firearm is not man-
ufactured in North Carolina; therefore, the gun traveled in interstate
commerce.

Grant bases his challenge to § 922(g)(1) on United States v. Lopez,
___ U.S. ___, 63 U.S.L.W. 4343 (U.S. Apr. 26, 1995) (No. 93-1260).
In Lopez, the Supreme Court invalidated 18 U.S.C.A. § 922(q)(1)(A)
(West Supp. 1996), which made possession of a firearm within 1000
feet of a school a federal offense. Lopez, 63 U.S.L.W. at 4343. The
Court struck down the conviction in part because the statute "contains
no jurisdictional element which would ensure, thorough case-by-case
inquiry, that the firearm possession in question affects interstate com-
merce." Id. at 4347.

Unlike the statute at issue in Lopez, § 922(g)(1) contains the requi-
site jurisdictional element because it applies only to firearms having
"an explicit connection with or effect on interstate commerce." Id.
The courts of appeals to have considered the question have held unan-
imously that Congress did not exceed its power under the Commerce
Clause in enacting § 922(g)(1). See, e.g. , United States v. Gateward,
84 F.3d 670, 672 (3rd Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 65 U.S.L.W.

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3265 (U.S. Oct. 7, 1996) (No. 96-5709); United States v. Turner, 77
F.3d 887, 889 (6th Cir. 1996). We also hold that§ 922(g)(1) is a
proper exercise of the commerce power.

We accordingly affirm Grant's conviction. We dispense with oral
argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately pres-
ented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the
decisional process.

AFFIRMED

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