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492 F.2d 902

Docket No. 73-1334.

United States v. Moon

Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals

Submitted Oct. 17, 1973.

Decided March 6, 1974.

Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals · decided 1974-03-06

Cited by 10 later decisions — most recently October 1982

9 federal appellate ·

2 counsel of record

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“In order to convict Moon, the government had to establish the following elements: (1) that defendant knowingly possessed the firearm; (2) that the object possessed was in fact a firearm; and (3) that such firearm was unregistered. * * * The prosecution needed to prove no more.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including United States v. Ackerson

Applies 26 U.S.C. § 5861 (§ 201 of the Gun Control Act of 1968)

Relies on United States v. Freed · Milentz v. United States · United States v. Johnson

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Opinion by (per_curiam) · Decided 1974-03-06

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1*903Ralph Edwards and John J. Bahnak, Jr., St. Louis, Mo., for appellant.

¶2Donald J. Stohr, U. S. Atty., and Thomas Earl Loraine, Asst. U. S. Atty., St. Louis, Mo., for appellee.

¶3Before LAY and BRIGHT, Circuit Judges, and EISELE, District Judge.*

¶5PER CURIAM.

¶6The defendant, Joey Lee Moon, was charged by juvenile information with possession of a firearm which had not been registered to him pursuant to the relevant provision of 26 U.S.C. § 5861 (d), which reads:

It shall be unlawful for any person—
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(d) to receive or possess a firearm which is not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.

¶7The district court convicted him of violating such provision following a bench trial. Moon brings this timely appeal contending that § 5861(d), as applied, violated his Fifth Amendment right to due process. We reject this contention and affirm.

¶8The facts disclose that the police, while investigating a motor vehicle accident, observed and removed a sawed-off shotgun from Moon’s automobile. Moon claimed that he found the gun and that he kept it for two weeks to “show off.” On these facts, the trial court rendered a guilty verdict.

¶9. On appeal, Moon argues that since he had found an abandoned weapon, any prosecution against him for possession of the weapon would be unreasonable and, therefore, a denial of due process. We disagree.

¶10In order to convict Moon, the government had to establish the following elements: (1) that defendant knowingly possessed the firearm; (2) that the object possessed was in fact a firearm; and (3) that such firearm was unregistered. United States v. Freed, 401 U.S. 601, 612, 91 S.Ct. 1112, 28 L.Ed.2d 356 (1971) (Brennan, J., concurring). The government made such showing here. The prosecution needed to prove no more.

¶11In United States v. Johnson, 441 F.2d 1134, 1136 (5th Cir. 1971), the court stated, in response to a charge that the statute was unconstitutionally vague, that “possession of such firearm, if unregistered, whether abandoned or not, is prohibited.” Moreover, in Milentz v. United States, 446 F.2d 111 (8th Cir. 1971), we said that “specific intent to violate the law [§ 5861(d)] is not a necessary element of the crime,” but we stressed that the act of possession of the weapon must be “willing and knowing.” Id. at 113, 114. The prosecution made a showing that Moon was not merely an innocent finder but rather a possessor of the weapon who kept the shotgun in his automobile for two weeks for “kicks” and to “show off” to his friends.

¶12Thus, we hold the conviction proper and the appeal without merit.

¶13Affirmed.

¶14EISELE, District Judge, concurs in the result.

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