United States v. Dale Lee Hitt

Dale Lee Hitt was convicted of possessing an unregistered machine gun in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5861 (d). The government alleged he had altered a semiautomatic rifle so it would discharge more than one shot per trigger pull — the defining characteristic of a machine gun. 26 U.S.C. § 5845 (b). The rifle had indeed been modified in a way consistent with the government’s theory, though Hitt’s lawyer suggested it had been modified by its previous owner. I RT 49. Some internal parts usable for machine guns (but not themselves illegal) were found in a gun case in Hitt’s room, but Hitt’s lawyer suggested they too might have come from the rifle’s previous owner. Id.

The key question, though, was whether the rifle would in fact rapid-fire. The government and Hitt each had their own experts test-fire it: In the government’s test, the rifle did fire more than one shot per trigger pull, but when Hitt’s expert (witnessed by two police officers) tested it, it didn’t. Hitt’s expert suggested the gun may have fired automatically in the government’s test because of a malfunction, perhaps because the internal parts were dirty, worn or defective. In response, the government introduced a…