Abramski v. United States (573 U.S. 169)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 16, 2014 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 573 U.S. 169 · 134 S. Ct. 2259
- Decided
- June 16, 2014
- Term
- October Term 2013
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Kagan
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice KAGAN delivered the opinion of the Court. Before a federally licensed firearms dealer may sell a gun, the would-be purchaser must provide certain personal information, show photo identification, and pass a background check. To ensure the accuracy of those submissions, a federal statute imposes criminal penalties on any person who, in connection with a firearm's acquisition, makes false statements about "any fact material to the lawfulness of the sale." 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(6). In this case, we consider how that law applies to a so-called straw purchaser-namely, a person who buys a gun on someone else's behalf while falsely claiming that it is for himself. We hold that such a misrepresentation is punishable under the statute, whether or not the true buyer could have purchased the gun without the straw. I A Federal law has for over 40 years regulated sales by licensed firearms dealers, principally to prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands. See Gun Control Act of 1968, 18 U.S.C. § 921 et seq. Under § 922(g), certain classes of people-felons, drug addicts, and the mentally ill, to list a few-may not purchase or possess any firearm. And to ensure they do not, § 922(d) forbids a licensed dealer from selling a gun to anyone it knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is such a prohibited buyer. See Huddleston v. United States, 415 U.S. 814, 825, 94 S.Ct. 1262, 39…
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