372
Opinion of the Court
In light of the statutory structure, the fact that both clauses speak of "conviction[s]" rebuts the Eighth and Ninth Circuits' argument that the two clauses "pertain to two entirely different sets of circumstances"—"the question of what constitutes a conviction" and "the effect of post-conviction events." Geyler, supra, at 1334-1335; see also Edwards, supra, at 1349. The exemption clause does not simply say that a person whose civil rights have been restored is exempted from § 922(g)'s firearms disqualification. It says that the person's conviction "shall not be considered a conviction." The effect of postconviction events is therefore, under the statutory scheme, just one element of the question of what constitutes a conviction.
Likewise, the presence of the choice-of-law clause rebuts the Eighth and Ninth Circuits' argument that the "plain, unlimited language," Edwards, supra, at 1349; see also Geyler, supra, at 1334, of the exemption clause—with its reference to "[a]ny conviction . . . for which a person has . . . had civil rights restored" (emphasis added)—refers to all civil rights restorations, even those by a jurisdiction other than the one in which the conviction was entered. Regardless of what the quoted phrase might mean standing alone, in conjunction with the choice-of-law clause it must refer only to restorations of civil rights by the convicting jurisdiction. The plain meaning that we seek to discern is the plain meaning of the whole statute, not of isolated sentences. See King v. St. Vincent's Hospital, 502 U. S. 215, 221 (1991); Massachusetts v. Morash, 490 U. S. 107, 115 (1989); Shell Oil Co. v. Iowa Dept. of Revenue, 488 U. S. 19, 26 (1988).
We are also unpersuaded by the Ninth Circuit's argument that "[b]ecause there is no federal procedure for restoring civil rights to a federal felon, Congress could not have expected that the federal government would perform this function," and that therefore "[t]he reference in § 921(a)(20) to the restoration of civil rights must be to the state procedure."
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