In U.S. v. McGill, No. 09-14167 (Sept. 8, 2010), on a government appeal, the Court held that a defendant’s prior Florida State conviction for unlawful possession of a short-barreled shotgun did not qualify as a prior “violent felony” for purposes of the 15-year mandatory minimum 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1), the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA).
The Court noted that Begay governed whether the prior conviction qualified as a “violent felony.” The question therefore was whether possessing an outlawed short-barreled shotgun is “roughly similar, in kind as well as degree of risk posed, to burglary, arson, extortion and the unlawful use of explosives.” The Court noted that, like explosives, short-barreled shotguns are regulated by the National Firearms Act (NFA). The Court pointed out that ACCA referred to the “use” of explosives, not mere possession, as a qualifying offense. The Court reasoned that if Congress required the “use” of explosives, not mere possession, as a qualifying ACCA offense, it would also intend to require the “use” and not the mere possession of a short-barreled shotgun, another NFA-regulated weapon. The Court concluded that McGill’s possession of a short-barreled shotgun did not qualify as a “violent felony.”
