640
Stevens, J., dissenting
ignorance of others is not, nor justifies her disagreement with the jury's finding that this defendant knew facts that should have caused him to inquire about the need for registration.27
V
This case presents no dispute about the dangerous character of machineguns and sawed-off shotguns. Anyone in possession of such a weapon is "standing in responsible relation to a public danger." See Dotterweich, 320 U. S., at 281 (citation omitted). In the National Firearms Act, Congress determined that the serious threat to health and safety posed by the private ownership of such firearms warranted the imposition of a duty on the owners of dangerous weapons to determine whether their possession is lawful. Semiautomatic weapons that are readily convertible into machineguns are sufficiently dangerous to alert persons who knowingly possess them to the probability of stringent public regulation. The jury's finding that petitioner knowingly possessed "a dangerous device of a type as would alert one to the likelihood of regulation" adequately supports the conviction.
Accordingly, I would affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.
27 In addition, contrary to Justice Ginsburg's assumption, if one reads the term "firearm" from the quoted section of the indictment to mean "gun," the indictment still charges an offense under § 5861(d) and does not differ from the critical jury instruction. See ante, at 622-623. Even if Justice Ginsburg is correct that there is a technical variance, petitioner makes no claim that any such variance prejudiced him. The wording of the indictment, of course, sheds no light on the proper interpretation of the underlying statutory text. Although the repeated use of a term in a statute may shed light on the statute's construction, see Ratzlaf v. United States, 510 U. S. 135, 143 (1994), such use in an indictment is irrelevant to that question.
Page: Index Previous 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41Last modified: October 4, 2007