UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. MICHAEL R., Defendant-Appellant

This appeal presents a constitutional challenge to the juvenile handgun possession law, 18 U.S.C. § 922 (x)(2). The question of constitutionality under the Commerce Clause is one of first impression in the Ninth Circuit, indeed in any court of appeals. Also on appeal here is the trial court’s denial of appellant’s suppression motion. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 1294. We AFFIRM.

I.

On June 23, 1995, Clayton Alan Kidd (“Kidd”), a Lieutenant with the Tucson Police Department, was on patrol in a relatively high crime area; he was working in conjunction with the Community Response Team (“CRT”), a special unit established to monitor gang activity in Tucson. Kidd was working “plainclothes,” wearing jeans and a T-shirt and driving an unmarked white Ford Taurus.

At around 10:30 p.m., while driving through a Quik-Mart parking lot at the corner of 29th and Craycroft Streets, Kidd saw a small white pickup, with two people in the cab, driving towards him. Both the driver and passenger of the pickup made eye contact with Kidd. Kidd noticed that they were Hispanic males with very short, almost shaven hair. A nine-year veteran on the police force, Kidd suspected from…