Court Opinion

ID: 9491771
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:23:28.389231+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:54:56.329494
License: Public Domain

REINHARDT, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I.
We have before us a case of federal prose-cutorial power run amok. This time, the target is a most unusual one. After sweeping aside the rights and interests of local law enforcement agencies in conducting their business in a manner they deem appropriate and efficient, the majority upholds the conviction of a citizen who did no more than act in accordance with the lawful instructions of several local police and sheriffs departments, and, at their request, perform a non-law enforcement function on their behalf. In doing so, the majority condones not only the violation of the rights of an individual but a serious intrusion on the independence of local law enforcement agencies.
Dennis Mack is a licensed gun dealer who is now serving 15 months in a federal prison. His crime was carrying out a function duly assigned to him by local law enforcement agencies, and performed for their convenience and benefit. On behalf of, and at the behest of these agencies, Mack took,possession of illegal firearms that they had seized in order to destroy them, as the agencies were required to do. Mack’s defense to this bizarre prosecution has remained consistent from his pre-trial motions through his appeal to this court. He has contended that his possession of the prohibited weapons was not illegal because he was acting on behalf of local law enforcement agencies, at their lawful request. He is correct, both as a matter of fact and law. The laws of the United States do not criminalize such innocent and constructive conduct, and Mr. Mack was convicted of a crime he did not commit.
In its opinion, the majority correctly holds that there is no violation of either 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d) or 19 U.S.C. § 922(k) when a “duly authorized employee” of a local law enforcement agency is given prohibited firearms by a local agency for the purpose of destroying them, although the statutes appear on their face to prohibit giving such arms to any person. The problem arises because the majority’s interpretation of the statutes is arbitrarily limited .and stops short of the only reasonable construction: when any duly authorized person — be he a “duly authorized employee,” a “duly authorized agent,” or a “duly authorized contractor” — is given weapons by a local police department in order to destroy them, the person’s possession of the weapons for that purpose is not unlawful. Indeed, this reasonable construction of the statutes is precisely the one given them by the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms — the federal agency responsible for their enforcement. Why the majority believes that a “duly authorized employee,” an ordinary non-uniformed individual employed by a law enforcement agency, may possess these weapons, but a duly authorized private contractor or agent whose services have been specifically retained by the agency for that purpose, and who is himself licensed to handle firearms, may not, we are left to wonder.
*475There is nothing in the statute that requires the anomalous result the majority reaches. Rather, it is only the majority’s policy disagreement with the Director of the ATF, John Magaw, as to whether local agencies should be free to use the services of outside persons to destroy weapons that causes it to reach the decision it does. Because there is absolutely nothing in the statutory language that supports the majority’s construction, because there is nothing in that language that permits agencies to use civilian employees but not civilian agents or independent contractors, and because the ATF’s interpretation of the statutes is reasonable and the majority’s is not, I would adopt the Director’s construction and reverse Mack’s conviction.
The evidence in this ease is undisputed that Mack was given the firearms by local law enforcement agencies, as their agent, in order to destroy the weapons. In a series of erroneous evidentiary rulings, however, the district court excluded the most favorable and direct testimony on this point; it also approved a set of erroneous jury instructions that prohibited Mack from relying on his one and only defense, an absolutely proper one: that he was duly authorized to possess the weapons for purposes of destruction. All of the district court’s critical rulings were premised on a theory of the law that is entirely incorrect: the district court ruled that only the federal government may authorize a person or entity to take possession of prohibited firearms in order to destroy them. I, like the Director of the ATF, understand the statute to allow local law enforcement agencies to do so as well, at least in instances in which they lawfully come into possession of illegal weapons that they intend to destroy.
Even though the evidence was undisputed that Mack was lawfully given the weapons by local law enforcement agencies so that he could destroy them on their behalf, the jury was told by the district judge that they could not acquit him on that basis. This despite the fact that, as the Director of the ATF reports, possession for purposes of destruction by an authorized agent of a local law enforcement agency is not a crime.
The majority opinion is in error in two fundamental respects. First, refusing to accept the uncontroverted fact that Mack’s possession of the weapons was explicitly authorized by local police departments, the majority seriously misstates the circumstances of this case. Second, the majority’s construction of the statutes is arbitrary and departs, for no good reason, from the logical construction given them by the ATF.
II.
The majority incorrectly describes Mack’s relationship with the local law enforcement agencies on whose behalf he possessed the weapons. According to the majority, “[wjhen the evidence is viewed even in the light most favorable to [Mack], at best he was a self-appointed private interloper who steadfastly created a false impression as to the scope of his authority in connection with his federal license. He came into possession of the weapons by misleading the police.” (Opinion at 255). A review of the record shows that this statement is at best misleading and at worst plainly incorrect.1
*476First, in no conceivable sense — let alone viewed in the light most favorable to Mack— does the evidence establish that Mack was a “self-appointed private interloper.” Mack attempted throughout the trial to introduce evidence that he operated as an agent of a number of local police departments. His attempts to do so were rebuffed continuously by the district court, and accordingly, Mack was prevented from putting on most of the evidence that unequivocally demonstrated the nature of his relationship with the local agencies. For example, Mack testified that he had received a letter from one of the local police departments stating that “I appoint Dennis Mack my agent to transport and destroy these guns.” (emphasis added). The district court had Mack’s testimony stricken from the record. (TR 8/14/96 at 156). Mack also attempted to introduce a letter from the City of Ridgecrest police department — a department that had provided him with some of the guns that formed the basis of the indictment — regarding his relationship with that department. Again, the prosecutor objected, and again the district court refused to admit the evidence because it concluded that “it doesn’t matter whether the police department appointed him as an agent.” (TR 8/15/96 at 3-7).
Despite the fact that Mack was almost completely prevented from introducing evidence in support of his contention that he was acting at the explicit request of the local departments, the evidence that was admitted makes it clear that he indeed was, and that he was without question far more than a “self-appointed private interloper.” During cross-examination, William Thompson, the property control clerk of the Kern County Sheriffs Department, testified that the department regularly requested that Mack take possession of and then destroy the illegal firearms they seized. The following colloquy with Thompson illustrates the fact that Mack was not just a “self-appointed private interloper”:
Defense Counsel: [W]hen you entered into a business relationship with Mr. Mack in 1994, that was for the destruction of guns at the Kern County Sheriffs Department.
Mr. Thompson: That’s correct____
Defense Counsel: And you entered into that agreement because it was beneficial for Kern County Sheriffs Department?
Mr. Thompson: Correct.
Defense Counsel: And during that — and in 1994, Mr. Mack came and helped Kern County destroy guns?
Mr. Thompson: That’s true.
Defense Counsel: Under your supervision; is that correct?
Mr. Thompson: Correct.
(TR 8/15/96 at 60-62) (emphasis added). Mack initially destroyed guns for Kern County on the department’s premises. When that proved too “mess[y],” however, Thompson testified that Mack was authorized to take the weapons off-site in order to destroy them. (TR 8/15/96 at 66-67).2
Second, Mack simply did not “steadfastly create[ ] a false impression as to the scope of his authority in connection with his federal license.” The majority’s statement that he did appears to amount to nothing more than an echo of the government’s answering brief. The record certainly does not support such an assertion. As the majority’s own exposition of the record makes clear, the only local police department official to testify on the question was Thompson. Thus, despite the fact that Mack dealt with numerous local agencies, only a single employee of a single agency said anything about Mack misrepresenting his federal license. From such limited evidence it is hard to understand how the majority concludes that any misrepresentation at all was steadfast.
Thompson’s testimony taken as a whole was ambiguous. As the majority notes, Thompson was asked what Mack had said about his federal firearms license during a gun auction in 1994. According to Thomp*477son, Mack “indicated that he could take our guns, that it was no problem for him to take the guns.” (TR 8/15/96 at 50). But the majority cites to only part of Thompson’s testimony. When Thompson was asked about a later telephone conversation with Mack, he testified as follows:
Q [The Prosecutor]: [D]id he [Mack] tell you that he could take possession of your illegal firearms?
A [Thompson]: Yes, he did.
Q: And your sawed-off shotguns?
A: Yes, he did.
Q: And what was the basis for him being able to take those guns, if you know? A: Well, he didn’t indicate a basis other than he indicated that he could replace some of the illegal parts....
Q: Did he tell you on the phone that his federal firearms license allowed him to have these weapons?
A: He didn’t specifically say that but, like I say, he indicated that it would not be a problem for him to take possession of them.
(RT 8/15/96 at 53). This testimony, given by a single property clerk from a single police department, simply does not support the majority’s conclusion that Mack “steadfastly created a false impression” regarding the scope of that license.3 Nor, accordingly, can it support the majority’s conclusion that Mack “came into possession of the weapons by misleading the police.” (Opinion at 255). More important, the fact is that Mack didn’t need a license and, whether he had one or not, and whether or not he told the police that one of his federal licenses would permit him to perform the services the local agencies desired, there was no legal bar to his taking possession of the weapons, which was all that mattered to the local agencies in the first place. See infra n. 3.
Despite the majority’s suggestion to the contrary, the record in this case makes it clear that Mack possessed these weapons because local police departments gave them to him and requested that he destroy them on their behalf, and that he, therefore, possessed them lawfully. The evidence, moreover, does not show that Mack “steadfastly created a false impression” as to what his license entitled him to do, nor does it suggest that Mack misled the law enforcement agencies that gave him these weapons, or that it mattered whether Mack was wrong as to the scope of his federal licenses.4
III.
Mack was convicted of illegally possessing firearms under two Federal firearms statutes, 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d) and 28 U.S.C. § 922(k). Both statutes make it unlawful for “any person” to possess the weapons described therein. As the majority states, a strict reading of the statutes would lead to the conclusion that any possession of prohibited firearms violates federal law. But, as the majority also states, a strict reading of the statutes produces an absurd result: if “any person” violates §§ 5861(d) and 922(k) when he “possesses” prohibited weapons, *478then police officers employed by local police departments are guilty of federal firearms violations when they seize guns from felons and place them in their stations’ lockers.
It is a well-settled canon of statutory construction that courts should not rely on the plain meaning of statutes when that reading would produce absurd results. See, e.g., Public Citizen v. United States Dept. of Justice, 491 U.S. 440, 454, 109 S.Ct. 2558, 105 L.Ed.2d 377 (1989); Perry v. Commerce Loan Co., 383 U.S. 392, 400, 86 S.Ct. 852, 15 L.Ed.2d 827 (1966); Seattle-First National Bank v. Conaway, 98 F.3d 1195, 1197 (9th Cir.1996); In re Pacific-Atlantic Trading Company, 64 F.3d 1292, 1303 (9th Cir.1995). This rule applies to criminal statutes as well as civil ones. See, e.g., Aponte v. Gomez, 993 F.2d 705, 708 (9th Cir.1993).
Applying this rule, the majority properly concludes that “[t]he statutes at issue here would create an absurd situation if any duly authorized employee of a state or local law enforcement agency could be punished for possessing confiscated weapons in the scope and course of the employee’s duty.” (Opinion at 472). Any duly authorized employee, of course, includes both uniformed and civilian employees of such agencies. While the majority is correct that the statutes cannot reasonably be read to cover such employees, it is equally true that the statutes would create an “absurd situation” if read to provide that any person duly authorized by a local law enforcement agency — be he an “employee,” “agent,” or “contractor” — could be punished for possessing such weapons, when he possesses them at the request and with the explicit authorization of the agency. The only way to read these statutes so as to avoid absurd results is to hold that when local law enforcement agencies authorize private individuals or entities to take possession of prohibited firearms for the purpose of destroying them on behalf of the agency, such possession is not criminal.
This latter, slightly more expansive but far more plausible reading of the statutes, is also the interpretation offered by the head of the agency responsible for administering them. John Magaw, the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), in a letter to Representative David Dreier of California issued while this appeal was pending, stated unequivocally that “law enforcement agencies are allowed to enter into agreements with private sector firms to destroy illegal weapons.” The ATF letter makes no artificial distinction between “employees” and other private individuals or entities duly hired or retained by the local agency to destroy prohibited weapons. What matters is whether or not the private party is authorized by the local department to possess and destroy the weapons. Whether this authorization takes the form of an employment contract, an agency relationship, or simply a verbal services agreement, is immaterial. An individual or entity authorized to possess the weapons by a local law enforcement agency may not be criminally hable for such possession.5
Had the majority correctly interpreted these statutes, it would have been forced to reverse Mack’s conviction. This is so because the district court held that a private individual or entity’s possession of prohibited weapons for purposes of destruction is illegal, even when such possession is duly authorized by local police agencies, and that only a federal agent can authorize private parties to possess illegal weapons for such purpose.6
*479All of the evidence presented at trial, to the extent that it was admitted, showed that Mack received the weapons from local police and sheriffs departments, and that he was authorized by local law enforcement officers to destroy the weapons on their behalf. Moreover, as noted above, most of the evidence Mack sought to introduce regarding the existence of specific agency relationships between local law enforcement departments and himself was excluded because the district court ruled that “it doesn’t matter whether the police appointed [Mack] as an agent.” (TE 8/15/96 at 6).
Perhaps most significantly, the district court refused to instruct the jury that if it found that Mack possessed the weapons on behalf of and with the authorization of a local police agency for the purpose of destroying the firearms, he was not guilty of the offenses charged. Instead, the court instructed the jury that it could find Mack not guilty only if federal agents, rather than local law enforcement officers, authorized him to take possession of the weapons. Although the head of the federal agency charged with enforcing these statutes understands that local law enforcement agencies may authorize private citizens to possess weapons of the type involved here for purposes of destruction, the majority’s contrary construction of the statutes leads it to find no error in the district court’s outright refusal to instruct the jurors on this defense or in its giving the jury a directly contrary instruction.
IV.
In conclusion, as the ATF has confirmed, Mack’s construction of § 5861(d) and § 922(k) is correct. Contrary to what Inspector Wong thought, and what the majority holds today, the district court misconstrued the law when it held that the authorization by local law enforcement agencies of the defendant’s possession of weapons for purposes of destruction is irrelevant to the legality of the possession. As a result of this misinterpretation, the district court made it impossible for the jury to grant Mack the acquittal to which he was entitled as a matter of law. It excluded most of the exculpatory evidence he sought to introduce and then told the jurors in its instructions that they could convict him despite the fact that he had committed no offense.
The majority’s decision to uphold Mack’s conviction is based on the fact that Mack was not an “employee” of a local law enforcement agency. The majority fails to explain, however, where in the statute it finds the distinction, on which its holding is based — the distinction between civilians employed by local police departments and civilians whose services are obtained by those departments through other contractual means. The majority also fails to offer persuasive reasons for rejecting the broader construction of the statutes offered by the head of the ATF — a construction that clearly and sensibly exempts not only “employees” but other authorized persons.
The majority also appears bothered by two irrelevant facts. First, Mack told Thompson that his federal firearms license covered his work of destroying weapons. The fact is, as the head of the ATF has stated, that no federal firearms license is necessary for that work. Second, Mack failed to follow the legal interpretation of the firearms statute that Inspector Wong, an ATF employee, persistently put forth. Wong was wrong, however — as the head of his agency, the ATF, has stated.
Because the majority misinterprets the statutes, and because Mack violated no federal law, I respectfully dissent. I. would reverse Mack’s conviction and free him forthwith.

. In footnote three, the majority contends that Mack sought out the weapons destruction work from the local police departments, and that this dissent implies falsely that the departments sought him out. For starters, this distinction is wholly irrelevant. It matters not one whit to the outcome of this case whether Mack offered his services to the police agencies or whether the agencies found him on their own initiative. The important point is that Mack performed the services at the request of and on behalf of the local police and sheriffs' departments. The theory of the prosecution and the district judge, erroneous as it turns out to have been, was that the local police agencies lacked the authority to ■ retain Mack's services. Whether or not he had a federal firearms license — and he did — could not matter less. Moreover, as shown below, Mack was prevented from introducing evidence as to his relations with police agencies generally, including any questions as to how he obtained the business. Each time he sought to establish the nature of his relationship with local law enforcement agencies, (except for one minor slip) the district court held the testimony irrelevant. Thus, it is most unfair of the majority to seize on bits of conversations regarding one particular relationship and create out of that a theory that neither party could have imagined was relevant to the outcome of the case, and indeed is not.

. Richard Golledge, the property custodian for the City of Shatter Police Department also testified that his department had given weapons to Mack to destroy. The defense introduced a copy of the official property record, kept by that police department, indicating one such transfer to Mack. (TR 8/14/96 at 83-89). There is no explanation of how this evidence crept into the record despite the court’s ruling that such testimony was irrelevant and inadmissible.

. No other witness testified that Mack had misrepresented the scope of his license. Mack himself was asked whether he told Thompson that he "had a federal firearms license that allowed [him] to take possession of N.F.A. weapons.” (RT 8/14/96 at 164). Mack's reply was: "That’s a little out of context.” Mack went on to testify to his understanding that private gun dealers could destroy weapons without running afoul of the firearms statutes.

. I point out the discrepancy between the majority’s categorization of the evidence and the actual record because the majority’s presentation of the facts presents a misleading impression of Mack's conduct. As I discuss below, however, the majority's contention that Mack misrepresented the effect of his federal firearms license is irrelevant. As John Magaw, the Director of the ATF has made clear, local law enforcement agencies may authorize private citizens to destroy weapons on their behalf. No federal firearms license is necessary to do so. In a letter to Congressman David Dreier, Magaw clarified that the "ATF neither issues licenses nor regulates private firms in the business of destroying weapons.” Thus, whatever Mack may have said about the scope of his federal license is immaterial. It is also irrelevant that Inspector Wong, a federal agent, told Mack that he could not possess the weapons. Wong, like the district judge, simply misunderstood what the Director of the agency made clear during the pendency of these proceedings: local law enforcement agencies may indeed authorize private individuals or entities to possess, for purposes of destruction, weapons that local agencies have seized.

. In a rather cryptic footnote, the majority states that the common practice of "using private contractors to melt down these weapons in a smelter in the presence and under the direction and control of officers present at the scene” does not amount to a violation of the statutes. The footnote would seem to derive from the Magaw letter. Nowhere in that letter, however, does the ATF state that possession of prohibited weapons by private citizens for purposes of destruction is lawful only when the destruction is supervised by the local police. Although the ATF "recommends” such supervision, it is not required, and the lack of supervision does not make the otherwise lawful possession illegal.

. Of course, under the majority’s construction of the statute local law enforcement agencies could lawfully authorize a private individual to possess prohibited weapons in order to destroy them, but only if it made that individual an employee. Why local authorities can authorize a private person to possess prohibited weapons by extending temporary or permanent employment to that individual, but can’t authorize that same individual’s possession of the weapons by any other contractual means, is left unexplained.