Brown

When is a rifle a maehinegun? This appeal asks whether the rifle seized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (“ATF”) from Mark Brown is a “machine-gun” within the meaning of the National Firearms Act, 26 U.S.C. § 5845 (b). The definition of a maehinegun under § 5845(b) includes a weapon that “can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot ... by a single function of the trigger.” The classification is important because federal law requires registration of machineguns. 26 U.S.C. § 5841 . Although the rifle was a modified M-14 ma-chinegun and could not fire automatically when purchased by Brown, it could be “readily restored” to shoot automatically within the plain and unambiguous meaning of § 5845(b). We thus affirm the district court’s order of forfeiture.

Background

Brown purchased a rifle from MK Specialties (“MKS”), a firearms dealer that remanufactures and sells decommissioned military M-14 machineguns. The military decommissions the M-14 by torch-cutting its receiver — the frame portion of the rifle that contains the firing mechanisms, located between the barrel and the stock — into two pieces. It is undisputed that before it is…