In U.S. v. Peters, No. 04-11658 (March 24, 2005), the Court (Marcus, Fay, Siler b.d.) affirmed a convcition for sale of a firearm and ammunition to a convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(d)(1).
The Court rejected a sufficiency of the evidence challenge. The Court found that, based on the exchanges between the seller and a confidential informant, the seller was told by the buyer of the firearms that the buyer was a convicted felon. This constituted sufficient evidence from which a jury could find that Peters had reasonable cause to believe that his buyer had a prior felony conviction.
The Court also rejected a Commerce Clause challenge to the federal statute which criminalizes the sale of a firearm to a convicted felon. The Court noted that the sale of a firearm is "economic activity," and therefore fell within Congress’ Commerce Clause power. Further, just as the Court had held that a felon’s possession of a firearm can be made a federal crime, likewise the sale of a firearm to a convicted felon can be a federal crime.
