U.S. v. Trw Rifle 7.62×51MM Caliber

• Decision Date: 05 May 2006
• Docket Number: No. 04-16049.,04-16049.
• Citation: 447 F.3d 686
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, Mark Travis Brown, Claimant-Appellant, v. TRW RIFLE 7.62×51MM CALIBER, ONE MODEL 14 SERIAL 593006, Defendant.

447 F.3d 686

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee Mark Travis Brown, Claimant-Appellant, v. TRW RIFLE 7.62×51MM CALIBER, ONE MODEL 14 SERIAL 593006, Defendant.

No. 04-16049.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted February 15, 2006.

Filed May 5, 2006.

Richard E. Gardiner, Fairfax, VA, for the appellant.

Paul K. Charlton, United States Attorney, Reese V. Bostwick and Robert L. Miskell, Assistant United States Attorneys, Tucson, AZ, for the appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona; Raner C. Collins, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-02-00264-RCC.

Before HUG, JR., ALARCÓN, and McKEOWN, Circuit Judges.

McKEOWN, Circuit Judge.

When is a rifle a machinegun? This appeal asks whether the rifle seized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms ("ATF") from Mark Brown is a "machinegun" within the meaning of the National Firearms Act, 26 U.S.C. § 5845(b). The definition of a machinegun under § 5845(b) includes a weapon that "can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot ... by a single function of the trigger." The classification is important because federal law requires registration of machineguns. 26 U.S.C. § 5841. Although the rifle was a modified M-14 machinegun and could not fire automatically when purchased by Brown, it could be "readily restored" to shoot automatically within the plain and unambiguous meaning of § 5845(b). We thus affirm the district court's order of forfeiture.

BACKGROUND

Brown purchased a rifle from MK Specialties ("MKS"), a firearms dealer that remanufactures and sells decommissioned military M-14 machineguns. The military decommissions the M-14 by torch-cutting its receiver — the frame portion of the rifle that contains the firing mechanisms, located between the barrel and the stock — into two pieces. It is undisputed that before it is decommissioned, the M-14 is a machinegun within the meaning of § 5845(b).¹ MKS takes these M-14 pieces and remanufactures them by welding the two halves back together and performing some other alterations such that the resulting rifle, called an MKS M-14A, does not fire automatically — i.e., "more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger." § 5845(b).

Brown purchased an MKS M-14A and attempted to sell it to a federal firearms licensee, West of Pecos, in Tucson, Arizona. The manager of West of Pecos was hesitant to purchase the rifle, and instead contacted the ATF to inquire about the rifle's classification. In response to the inquiry, ATF Special Agent Robert Lowery contacted Brown and verified that he was in possession of the rifle. Soon after, Special Agent Lowery learned from the ATF's Firearms Technology Branch that, after examination, other MKS M-14As were determined to be machineguns within the meaning of § 5845(b).

Special Agent Lowery verified that the rifle was not registered to Brown or any other person, as required by § 5841, and seized the rifle on May 8, 2001, under the authority of 26 U.S.C. § 5872(a). The United States then filed a civil forfeiture action on May 23, 2002, pursuant to § 5872(a). In preparation for the forfeiture action, ATF Special Agent Richard Vasquez, through the ATF Firearms Technology Branch, prepared a comprehensive report in which he concluded that the rifle was a machinegun as defined in § 5845(b). The district court agreed and ruled in favor of the United States on summary judgment.

ANALYSIS

The central question in this appeal is whether the rifle is a "machinegun" under § 5845(b), which provides:

The term "machinegun" means any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.

The parties dispute whether the rifle can be "readily restored" within the meaning of § 5845(b).²

As a threshold matter, the parties also dispute the relative burdens applicable in a forfeiture action. In an opinion issued last month, the Sixth Circuit carefully analyzed the burden question in a similar appeal and persuasively reasoned that the customs laws, 19 U.S.C. §§ 1602-1631, dictate the relative burdens of the parties in a forfeiture action under § 5872(a). United States v. One TRW, Model M14, 7.62 Caliber Rifle, 441 F.3d 416, 418-19 (6th Cir.2006).³ Section 1615 of the customs law provides that in forfeiture suits "where the property is claimed by any person, the burden of proof shall lie upon such claimant; . . . Provided, That probable cause shall be first shown for the institution of such suit or action. . . ." See also United States v. One 56-Foot Yacht Named Tahuna, 702 F.2d 1276, 1281 (9th Cir.1983); One TRW, 441 F.3d at 419. Under § 1615, the claimant's burden may be met in one of two ways: "first, [the claimant] may refute the government's showing of probable cause, and second, [the claimant] may come forward with affirmative evidence and prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the [property subject to the forfeiture proceeding] was not used for the illegal purpose as alleged." Tahuna, 702 F.2d at 1281. Brown does not dispute that the ATF had probable cause to seize the rifle and institute forfeiture proceedings. Nor has Brown proven by a preponderance of the evidence that the rifle was not subject to forfeiture. Regardless of the burden of proof issue, this case turns on the construction of § 5845(b). Based on our construction of "readily restored" and the undisputed facts on the record, we have no doubt that the rifle is subject to forfeiture under § 5872(a).

"Our analysis begins with the language of the statute. . . . When interpreting a statute, we must give words their `ordinary or natural' meaning." Leocal v. Ashcroft, 543 U.S. 1, 8-9, 125 S.Ct. 377, 160 L.Ed.2d 271 (2004) (quoting Smith v. United States, 508 U.S. 223, 228, 113 S.Ct. 2050, 124 L.Ed.2d 138 (1993)). Congress did not define what it meant by "readily" or "restored" in § 5845(b); "thus, we follow the common practice of consulting dictionary definitions to clarify their ordinary meaning[ ]" and look to how the terms were defined "at the time [the statute] was adopted." United States v. Carter, 421 F.3d 909, 911 (9th Cir.2005); see MCI Telecomms. Corp. v. AT & T Co., 512 U.S. 218, 228, 114 S.Ct. 2223, 129 L.Ed.2d 182 (1994) (stating that "the most relevant time for determining a statutory term's meaning" is when the statute became law, and relying on dictionaries to ascertain the term's meaning). Brown argues, and we agree, that "readily" and "restored" both have plain and unambiguous ordinary meanings as found in the Webster's dictionary that was in existence when Congress enacted § 5845(b) in 1968. Where we depart from Brown, however, is in our conclusion that the uncontested facts of this appeal fall within the scope of those ordinary meanings.⁴

We begin with the word "readily." Webster's Third, the edition in print when § 5845(b) was enacted, gives three alternate definitions for "readily":

a: with prompt willingness: without hesitating, quibbling, or delaying: with alacrity: WILLINGLY ...

b: with fairly quick efficiency: without needless loss of time: reasonably fast: SPEEDILY ...

c: with a fair degree of ease: without much difficulty: with facility: EASILY...

Webster's Third New Int'l Dictionary (1961). As with most words, the dictionary gives multiple definitions. But we do not ascertain ordinary meaning in the abstract. Rather, we must decide which of these definitions, if any, is consistent with the context of the statute. United States v. Turkette, 452 U.S. 576, 581-83, 101 S.Ct. 2524, 69 L.Ed.2d 246 (1981) (construing statutory text according to the context of the language and the structure of the statute); Carter, 421 F.3d at 912-13 & n. 1 (excluding irrelevant alternative dictionary definitions in construing a term's ordinary meaning). As Chief Justice Traynor of the California Supreme Court observed, words rarely have an objective meaning divorced from the context of their usage. See Pacific Gas & Elec. Co. v. G. W. Thomas Drayage & Rigging Co., 69 Cal.2d 33, 38, 69 Cal.Rptr. 561, 442 P.2d 641 (1968) ("The meaning of particular words or groups of words varies with the verbal context and surrounding circumstances.... A word has no meaning apart from these factors; much less does it have an objective meaning, one true meaning.") (quotation marks and alterations omitted). We thus agree with the Sixth Circuit that "readily restored... must not be construed as an abstract phrase, but rather its contours should be determined in the context of what it means to be able to `readily restore' a machinegun as opposed to some other object." One TRW, 441 F.3d at 422 (alterations omitted).

Regarding the term "readily," we conclude that the last two definitions in Webster's Third—definition "b" relating to a temporal component of speed and definition "c" relating to a methodological component of ease—capture the ordinary meaning of the term in the context of § 5845(b). The first definition in Webster's Third—relating to willingness—is directed towards an actor's mental disposition and is obviously inapposite. We conclude that, for purposes of § 5845(b), the plain and unambiguous ordinary meaning of "readily" may be defined by a temporal component ("with fairly quick efficiency: without needless loss of time: reasonably fast") or a component related to a manner or methodology ("with a fair degree of ease: without much difficulty: with facility").⁵ See One TRW, 441 F.3d at 422 ("`[R]eadily' is a relative term, one that describes a process that is fairly or reasonably efficient, quick, and easy, but not necessarily the most efficient, speedy, or easy process.").

It does not matter whether the ordinary meaning requires both the temporal and methodological components because, as discussed below, each is present in this appeal. We note, however, that alternative...