638
Stevens, J., dissenting
Assuming that "innocent activity" describes conduct without any consciousness of wrongdoing, the risk of punishing such activity can be avoided only by reading into the statute the common-law concept of mens rea: "an evil purpose or mental culpability." Morissette, 342 U. S., at 252.25 But
even petitioner does not contend that the Government must prove guilty intent or intentional wrongdoing. Instead, the "mens rea" issue in this case is simply what knowledge requirement, if any, Congress implicitly included in this offense. There are at least five such possible knowledge requirements, four of which entail the risk that a completely innocent mistake will subject a defendant to punishment.
First, a defendant may know that he possesses a weapon with all of the characteristics that make it a "firearm" within the meaning of the statute and also know that it has never been registered, but be ignorant of the federal registration requirement. In such a case, we presume knowledge of the law even if we know the defendant is "innocent" in the sense that Justice Ginsburg uses the word. Second, a defendant may know that he possesses a weapon with all of the characteristics of a statutory firearm and also know that the law requires that it be registered, but mistakenly believe that it is in fact registered. Freed squarely holds that this defendant's "innocence" is not a defense. Third, a defendant
25 Our use of the term mens rea has not been consistent. In Morissette, we used the term as if it always connoted a form of wrongful intent. In other cases, we employ it simply to mean whatever level of knowledge is required for any particular crime. See, e. g., United States v. Bailey, 444 U. S. 394, 403 (1980). In this sense, every crime except a true strict-liability offense contains a mens rea requirement. For instance, the Court defined mens rea in Liparota v. United States, 471 U. S., at 426, as "knowledge of illegality." In dissent, however, Justice White equated the term with knowledge of the facts that make the conduct illegal. Id., at 442-443. Today, the Court assigns the term the latter definition, ante, at 605, but in fact requires proof of knowledge of only some of the facts that constitute the violation, ante, at 609 (not requiring proof of knowledge of the fact that the gun is unregistered).
Page: Index Previous 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007