Cite as: 508 U. S. 223 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
spect to that argument, we agree with the District of Columbia Circuit's observation:
"It may well be that Congress, when it drafted the language of [§ ]924(c), had in mind a more obvious use of guns in connection with a drug crime, but the language [of the statute] is not so limited[;] nor can we imagine any reason why Congress would not have wished its language to cover this situation. Whether guns are used as the medium of exchange for drugs sold illegally or as a means to protect the transaction or dealers, their introduction into the scene of drug transactions dramatically heightens the danger to society." Harris, supra, at 316, 959 F. 2d, at 262.
One need look no further than the pages of the Federal Reporter to verify the truth of that observation. In Phelps, supra, the defendant arranged to trade his MAC-10 for chemicals necessary to make methamphetamine. The Ninth Circuit held that the gun was not used or carried "in relation to" the drug trafficking offense because it was used as an item of barter and not as a weapon. The defendant, however, did not believe his MAC-10's capabilities were so limited. When he was stopped for a traffic violation, "[t]he MAC 10, suddenly transmogrified [from an item of commerce] into an offensive weapon, was still in [the defendant's] possession[.] [He] opened fire and shot a deputy sheriff." Id., at 1288, n. 4 (Kozinski, J., dissenting from denial of re-hearing en banc).
C
Finally, the dissent and petitioner invoke the rule of lenity. Post, at 246-247. The mere possibility of articulating a narrower construction, however, does not by itself make the rule of lenity applicable. Instead, that venerable rule is reserved for cases where, "[a]fter 'seiz[ing] every thing from which aid can be derived,' " the Court is "left with an ambiguous statute." United States v. Bass, 404 U. S. 336, 347 (1971) (quot-
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