Staples v. United States, 511 U.S. 600, 40 (1994)

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Cite as: 511 U. S. 600 (1994)

Stevens, J., dissenting

may know only that he possesses a weapon with all of the characteristics of a statutory firearm. Neither ignorance of the registration requirement nor ignorance of the fact that the weapon is unregistered protects this "innocent" defendant. Fourth, a defendant may know that he possesses a weapon that is sufficiently dangerous to likely be regulated, but not know that it has all the characteristics of a statutory firearm. Petitioner asserts that he is an example of this "innocent" defendant. Fifth, a defendant may know that he possesses an ordinary gun and, being aware of the widespread lawful gun ownership in the country, reasonably assume that there is no need "to inquire about the need for registration." Ante, at 622 (Ginsburg, J., concurring in judgment). That, of course, is not this case. See supra, at 624, and n. 1.26

Justice Ginsburg treats the first, second, and third alternatives differently from the fourth and fifth. Her acceptance of knowledge of the characteristics of a statutory "firearm" as a sufficient predicate for criminal liability—despite ignorance of either the duty to register or the fact of nonregistration, or both—must rest on the premise that such knowledge would alert the owner to the likelihood of regulation, thereby depriving the conduct of its "apparen[t] innocen[ce]." Yet in the fourth alternative, a jury determines just such knowledge: that the characteristics of the weapon known to the defendant would alert the owner to the likelihood of regulation.

In short, Justice Ginsburg's reliance on "the purpose of the mens rea requirement—to shield people against punishment for apparently innocent activity," ante, at 622, neither explains why ignorance of certain facts is a defense although

26 Although I disagree with the assumption that "widespread lawful gun ownership" provides a sufficient reason for believing that there is no need to register guns (there is also widespread lawful automobile ownership), acceptance of that assumption neither justifies the majority's holding nor contradicts my conclusion on the facts of this case.

639

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