26 U.S.C. § 5685
Section 5685 · Penalty and forfeiture relating to possession of devices for emitting gas, smoke, etc., explosives and firearms, when violating liquor laws
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 6 court decisions — leading case United States v. Barnett (1969)
Most recently applied in 140 S. Ct. 789 - Guedes v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (March 2020)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Whoever, when violating any law of the United States, or of any possession of the United States, or of the District of Columbia, in regard to the manufacture, taxation, or transportation of or traffic in distilled spirits, wines, or beer, or when aiding in any such violation, has in his possession or in his control any device capable of causing emission of gas, smoke, or fumes, and which may be used for the purpose of hindering, delaying, or preventing pursuit or capture, any explosive, or any firearm (as defined in section 5845), except a machine gun, or a shotgun having a barrel or barrels less than 18 inches in length, or a rifle having a barrel or barrels less than 16 inches in length, shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both, and all persons engaged in any such violation or in aiding in any such violation shall be held to be in possession or control of such device, firearm, or explosive.
Whoever, when violating any such law, has in his possession or in his control a machine gun, or any shotgun having a barrel or barrels less than 18 inches in length, or a rifle having a barrel or barrels less than 16 inches in length, shall be imprisoned not more than 20 years; and all persons engaged in any such violation or in aiding in any such violation shall be held to be in possession and control of such machine gun, shotgun, or rifle.
Every such firearm or device for emitting gas, smoke, or fumes, and every such explosive, machine gun, shotgun, or rifle, in the possession or control of any person when violating any such law, shall be seized and shall be forfeited and disposed of in the manner provided by section 5872.
As used in this section the term “machine gun” means a machine gun as defined in section 5845(b).
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
A prior section 5685, act Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 699, consisted of provisions similar to those comprising this section, prior to the general revision of this chapter by Pub. L. 85–859.
Amendments
1976—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 94–455, §1905(a)(23)(A), (c)(6), struck out “Territory or” after “United States, or of any” and substituted “section 5845” for “section 5848”.
Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 94–455, §1905(a)(23)(B), substituted “section 5872” for “section 5862”.
Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 94–455, §1905(a)(23)(C), substituted “means a machinegun as defined in section 5845(b)” for “means any weapon which shoots, or is designed to shoot, automatically or semiautomatically, more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger”.
1960—Subsecs. (a), (b). Pub. L. 86–478 substituted “shotgun having a barrel or barrels less than 18 inches in length, or a rifle having a barrel or barrels less than 16 inches in length” for “shotgun or rifle having a barrel or barrels less than 18 inches in length”.
Effective Date of 1976 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 94–455 effective on first day of first month which begins more than 90 days after Oct. 4, 1976, see section 1905(d) of Pub. L. 94–455, set out as a note under section 5005 of this title.
Effective Date of 1960 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 86–478 effective on first day of first month which begins more than 10 days after June 1, 1960, see section 5 of Pub. L. 86–478.